Two French police officers have been arrested and suspended after being accused of raping a young woman while she was in custody at a court building in Bobigny, a suburb north of Paris.

According to prosecutor Eric Mathais, the alleged assault occurred overnight between Tuesday, October 28, and Wednesday, October 29. The 26-year-old woman had been brought before the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office in connection with a case involving acts of parental neglect.

Mathais confirmed that the two suspects aged 23 and 35 “have not been police officers for long.” Both were taken into custody on Thursday, October 30, as part of an ongoing investigation.

Paris police prefect Patrice Faure announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he had “immediately suspended” the two officers following the allegations.

A source close to the case said the officers had submitted an administrative report outlining their version of events, though details have not been made public. France’s internal police investigation unit, the IGPN, has opened an inquiry into the incident.

This latest case adds to growing public concern over sexual misconduct and abuse of authority within French law enforcement.

In a separate case, another French police officer is set to stand trial next year for allegedly raping a woman twice inside a police station in the Seine-et-Marne region, also near Paris. The victim, an undocumented Angolan woman, had gone to the station to file a domestic violence complaint when the assault allegedly occurred, according to Libération newspaper.

France has been grappling with a series of high-profile r@pe cases that have reignited national debate about consent and s3xual violence. On Wednesday, the French parliament passed a landmark bill redefining rape as any non-consensual sexual act, a change hailed by advocates as a shift “from a culture of rape to a culture of consent.”