India moves to tackle sex attacks on tourists
Fri, January 18 2008
By Mata Press Service
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A tourist walks on a Goa beach |
The string of sex attacks has alarmed and shamed the Indian government which has called for a meeting of State tourism officials on January 24.
Indian Tourism Secretary Shilabhadra Banerjee said there will be a review of the security measures with State tourism secretaries from across the country to ensure the safety of domestic and foreign travellers.
The sex attacks by Indian men have also prompted a review of the Indian Penal Code to make molestation a non-bailable offence and plug legal loopholes that allow sexual offenders to escape with little or no punishment. The Indian government particularly wants to know how it can nail those who pass lewd remarks at women — and get away with it, senior government officials said.
This type of harassment referred to as “eve-teasing” rarely result in any punishment in India. The latest incident involved two girls from Canada, holidaying with their families in the backwater resort of Kumarakom in the Southern state of Kerala.
Police said the girls, aged 12 and 14, raised an alarm when Shyju Varghese, a security guard, tried to molest them in the hotel’s billiards room.
Varghese was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the father of the girls. “We took action immediately. Investigations are on,” Kumarakom station house officer Sanal Kumar said.
The family, whose hometowns were not made public cut short their holiday and left the resort.
Another New Year beach attack occurred in Kochi, Kerala, where a young man assaulted a European woman from behind. Also in Southern India, a British woman is helping police track a man who allegedly raped her after giving her a lift in Goa.
“The victim’s medical examination report has confirmed assault and rape,” Goa Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohan Naik told IANS.
The victim, a 32-year-old from Derbyshire, had visited a cultural show at the Goa Kala Akademy in Panjim, the capital of Goa. Shortly after the show was over, she was waiting for a cab when a man on a motorcycle asked whether she would like a drop to her place in Mapuca. She agreed to go with him.
Around five kilometres outside the city, the motorcyclist diverted the vehicle off the main road.
“When the victim objected, he said it was a short-cut to her lodge,” Naik said, recounting the victim’s statement.
The motorcyclist stopped in an isolated thick forest area and started assaulting her. She hit back but was no match for his strength.
The victim was staying in Goa for the past three months. At the same time, a young Russian tourist in Goa alleged that she was molested by a beach shack owner.
Agnelo Noronha, 32, who owns a beach shack on Utorda beach in south Goa, was arrested after the 27-year-old Russian woman staying in a five-star hotel lodged a police complaint.
Over 25,000 foreign tourists are currently in Goa on account of the winter tourist season. India draws millions of tourists every year — close to 5.5 million foreign tourists arrived last year — and the government does not want the country’s image tarnished.
Other recent cases involving tourists include; two women travelers molested in Rajasthan; the rape of a British journalist by a guesthouse owner in Udaipur; the sexual assault on an American tourist while she was praying at a temple in Pushkar and the gang rape of a Japanese woman also in Pushkar.
Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, has also frequently reported harassment and molestation of foreign tourists. But it was the brazen attack by a mob on two women in Juhu, Mumbai, which was captured by roving newspaper photographers, that has India shaking its head in disgust.
In that case, a mob of 70-80 men groped and molested two young women from California for some 15 minutes on a busy main street in Mumbai’s glamour district Juhu early on New Year’s Day.
The attack was shot by two Hindustan Times lensmen who happened to be on the spot.
The women — one in a black dress, the other in a jeans and top — emerged from the JW Marriott hotel with two male companions around 1.45 am, and began walking towards Juhu beach close by.
A mob of about 40 got after them and began teasing the women. One of the women swore loudly at the hooligans.
But the mob, now 70-80 strong, wouldn’t let go. They trapped the women near a vehicle and a tree, and pounced on them. A man in a white shirt tore off the black dress. Another, in a blue shirt, led the assault. As the women fell on the ground, dozens of men jumped on them.
At which point, photographer Satish Bate spotted a police van and called for help.
Senior Inspector Amarjeet Singh rushed in swinging his cane and chased away the mob. He took the victims, who were originally from Gujarat but had settled in the United States, to the Juhu police station.
Fourteen youths have been detained in connection with the incident.
Indian newspapers described the incidents as “alarming” and “embarrassing”
“It gives a stark, negative picture of the Indian male, who cannot hold his drink on the one hand, and who does not know how to rein in his animal instincts at the sight of a female on the other” said an editorial.
Another newspaper said that India’s moral compass has gone askew.
“Inevitably, women, perceived as weak, become soft targets. In the new India, some of us are yet to come to terms with a new social order,” said the newspaper.
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