A female British tourist suffered leg injuries after she jumped out of a hotel window Tuesday over fears of a sex attack in the Indian city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, police said. The victim, who was not named but was in her early 30s, was admitted to hospital by police after she leapt from the first floor when two men tried to enter her room in the Hotel Agra Mahal at around 4:00 am.
The incident came just days after a Swiss cyclist was gang-raped by a group of villagers on Friday night while on a cycling trip with her husband that was meant to include a stopover in Agra. That attack refocused attention on the country's poor record on safety for women, after thousands took to the streets in nation-wide protests following the fatal gang-rape of an Indian student on a bus in New Delhi in December. The hotel guest "got frightened so she ran to the other end of the room and jumped out of the window", Pawan Kumar, superintendent of police in Agra, told AFP.
Another officer who took the victim to hospital said she had earlier rejected the hotel manager's persistent overtures offering a massage. He then returned with a second man and attempted to open the door to her room with a key, said the officer, Swaranjeet, who uses only one name. Swaranjeet, the deputy superintendent of police in Agra, said the manager had been arrested on charges of harassment and would be produced in court shortly. "She has left hospital and we have moved her to another hotel while she decides her future travel plans. She is safe but is very scared after the incident," she said.