British tourist jumps from hotel, injured

Agra  : A British tourist was injured in her leg after jumping from her hotel balcony here Tuesday to escape an attempted sexual assault. The hotel owner has been arrested, officials said.

The 25-year-old Briton told police that she was staying in the first floor of a hotel in Agra’s cantonment area when someone tried to molest her.

She told police she had told the hotel staff to wake her up early so that she could catch a bus to Jaipur. But she got scared after a hotel employee “offered to give her a massage”.

Since he knocked twice and would not leave, the frightened woman jumped from the balcony, injuring her leg. She rushed to the nearest police booth to file a complaint.

The arrested hotel owner denied the allegation, saying he had only tried to wake her up.

Two policemen are providing the woman security at her new hotel. A British consular team is in Agra to assist her.

“A consular team has spoken to her and is providing her assistance. She is under police protection,” a British high commission official said in New Delhi.

The incident comes close on the heels of the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district.

The woman, an adventure tourist, had set up camp near a forest along with her husband when she was raped by eight men who also stole their laptop, camera and cash.