Rape fears fuel tourists’ anxiety in India

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SECURITY PRECAUTION: In this photograph taken on Sept 19, 2010, foreign tourists walk past Indian policemen towards Jama Masjid mosque after foreign tourists were attacked by unknown gunmen near the mosque in New Delhi. — AFP photo

SECURITY PRECAUTION: In this photograph taken on Sept 19, 2010, foreign tourists walk past Indian policemen towards Jama Masjid mosque after foreign tourists were attacked by unknown gunmen near the mosque in New Delhi. — AFP photo

NEW DELHI: Danish tourist Judith Jensen has a long list of don’ts to help her feel safe during her holiday in India.

She won’t hail a taxi off the street, she won’t stay in an obscure hotel and she won’t go out after dark –all decisions made in response to the growing reporting of sexual crime in the country.

“I have read and heard so much about rape in India that now I feel this persistent sense of danger,” Jensen, 42, told AFP as she walked through a popular market in downtown Delhi.

The tourism ministry’s ubiquitous Incredible India marketing campaign has helped boost the number of foreign visitors over the past decade to around 6.6 million a year – albeit still way behind the likes of China and Malaysia. But that push is now hampered by a growing sense that India is simply not a safe destination, particularly for women.

The fatal gang-rape of an Indian student in December shone a disturbing light on the levels of sexual violence and a series of subsequent attacks on foreigners have added to the sense of unease.

On Friday night, a Swiss tourist was gang-raped while on a cycling holiday in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

Her husband was tied up by the gang who are also accused of stealing a laptop, a mobile phone and 10,000 rupees (US$185).

On the same night, a group of men in a city near Delhi briefly kidnapped an Indian male executive working for the French engineering giant Alstom.

Other incidents reported since the December bus gang-rape include that of a South Korean student who said she had been raped and drugged by the son of the owner of the hotel where she stayed during a holiday in January.

A Chinese woman working in Gurgaon, a town bordering the Indian capital, was also reportedly raped by an acquaintance last month.

Indian officials say there is no need for alarm, pointing out that foreigners are victims of crime the world over and the vast majority of visitors experience no safety problems.

But travel advice from a host of countries stresses the need for visitors to take care. — AFP