British tourist alleges molestation in Rajasthan

BUNDI - Another incident of a foreign tourist being harassed in Rajasthan has emerged with a British woman alleging that she was molested by a schoolteacher here. Police, however, arrested the man only for “disturbing peace”, an official said.

The alleged incident took place when the foreign tourist and her boyfriend were walking around the Nahar Ka Chauta area of the city Saturday evening, police said.

They were approached by Omprakash, a schoolteacher, who requested them to see his paintings at his residence, where he allegedly tried to molest the foreign tourist, a police official from the city’s Kotwali police station told IANS.

“Both of them came to us and complained about the incident,” he said.

But the British woman was not ready to file a written complaint. “So we arrested Omprakash on charges of disturbing peace,” the official said.

In the last five years, Rajasthan, for long a favourite destination for tourists, has seen rise in complaints and incidents of rape and molestation from foreigners.

In 2005, a 47-year-old German tourist was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplice in Jodhpur. The two were sentenced to life imprisonment by a fast-track court within a month.

In March 2006, a 26-year-old German was raped in Alwar by B.H. Mohanty, the son of a senior police officer of Orissa. Mohanty was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ jail by a fast-track court. However, he jumped parole in December 2006 and has been on the run since then.

In April 2006, a Japanese woman was raped and robbed of Rs.54,000 by the son of a hotel manager and three other men in the town of Pushkar. A fast-track court sentenced Babloo, the main accused, to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.

But Rajasthan has seen a quantum jump in the arrival of foreign tourists from 623,000 tourists in 2002 to around 1.10 million in 2009. Similarly, the arrival of domestic tourists has also leapfrogged from 7.3 million in 2000 to around 25 million tourists in 2009.