8 Held for Attacking French Tourists, Molesting Indian Woman in UP

Eight people were arrested for allegedly beating up a group of Indians and French tourists who were visiting Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, on Dec. 10. A French national got injured in the altercation between 13 men and some employees of Anandmayi Hospital at the Lakhania Dara waterfall.

The group of six French tourists, including Bernard, Fremini, Jean Pride and Patricia, were visiting the hospital at Varanasi as part of their association with a social organization. A doctor and three other colleagues from the hospital had taken the group of foreigners to the waterfall for a visit.

A group of 13 drunk men tried to take selfies with the foreign tourists. The doctor intervened and was heavily injured. The group also misbehaved with an Indian woman who was part of the group. The accused men initially went away and later came back to attack the group with sticks.

#UttarPradesh: Foreign tourists allegedly beaten up in #Mirzapur, police arrest four people pic.twitter.com/3Qk0iHthZN

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 10, 2017

#Mirzapur foreign tourist attack case: 4 more arrested, total 8 arrests made in the case so far.

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 11, 2017

“No attack was made on any French national, but a French national sustained injuries as he tried to intervene in an altercation between two group of Indians,” a police official was quoted as saying by the New Indian Express. He sustained injuries on his hand.

“A boy called Vivek gathered some more boys and they assaulted the group. One of the men sustained head injuries. In the FIR, there is no mention that the foreign tourists were assaulted. We have a video of one of the foreign tourists who says they were not hit but got scratches when they tried to stop the attackers,” Ashish Tiwari, a senior police officer, said, according to NDTV. The residents near the area came to the aid of the foreign nationals and nabbed some of the attackers, the report added.

The police said that the Indian woman and her relatives were beaten up.

“The vehicle by which she had come here carried about half a dozen French tourists,” he said.

The woman filed a police complaint following which the eight people were arrested. In her police complaint, she said that almost a dozen men molested her.

Deplorable. We must ensure ppl accept foreigners are coming in & they want privacy, they don’t want to be interfered with, if every guy out there wants to have a selfie with tourists, it will make it impossible for ppl to visit: Tourism Min KJ Alphons on Mirzapur tourist attack pic.twitter.com/TMIyezSVnD

— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2017