Thaindian News

Jaipur, April 18 (IANS) A 20-year-old Spanish woman has filed a complaint that a man molested her on pretext of yoga practice in Pushkar town in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, police said Monday. However, she now doesn’t want the case to be pursued.

Police have detained the accused and are interrogating him.

The girl had come to Pushkar, a popular destination among foreign tourists, about 140 km from here, along with two friends around 20 days back, a police officer said.

“The girl claims she had gone for a walk in the town Sunday evening. She met one man, Bhanwarlal, on the way who told her that he was a yoga expert and offered her fruit juice,” he said.

“She said that she fell unconscious after drinking the juice and found herself semi-naked in a guest house after two hours. We registered a complaint on Sunday and have detained this man for questioning,” said the officer.

“But the problem is that she came to us in the morning and said she does not want to pursue the case… We are seeing what can be done now,” the officer said.

In the last six years, the desert state — a favourite tourist destination for both domestic as well as foreign tourists — has been rocked by incidents of crime against women.

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 student was raped in Alwar by the son of a senior police officer of Orissa cadre.

B.H. Mohanty, accused of rape, was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by a fast-track court. However, he jumped parole in December 2006 and has been untraced and 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 in Pushkar.

And in 2008, an American tourist complained of being molested in Pushkar.

In another shocking incident, a 40-year-old British journalist alleged that she was raped by an owner of a guest house in Udaipur on December 2007.