The incident took place while the tourists were taking a walk on the Varkala beach.
Image credit: 16paruljain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Varkala police in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday nabbed a local man based on the complaints of two European women tourists, who alleged sexual harassment. The incident happened while the tourists were taking a walk on the beach. According to the police, the tourists complained that the man, who came in a bike, flashed at them and grabbed one of their hands. Varkala is a hugely popular beach destination about 40 km from the state capital and the incident occurred late on Monday evening when the tourists went for a stroll on the beach. "While walking on the beach, a man came towards us and we were scared. Soon, we started to run. He also came after us. When a third person saw this happening, the person behind us stopped and he ran away," IANS reports one of the women to have said. The two women have been staying at Varkala at a home stay for the past six months and have been trying their best to return to their home countries, but have not been able to do so because of the lockdown. Meanwhile, speaking to TNM, officials of Varkala police station said that a case has been registered under Section 351 (Assault) of the Indian Penal Code. “We have taken one man into custody. But we will have to ask the tourists to identify the man, to ascertain whether he is the real accused,” said an official of Varkala police station. The incident has once again raised the issue of the safety of women tourists in Kerala. Last year, two men were arrested for allegedly raping a foreign national woman in Kochi. In 2018, a Latvian tourist was brutally raped and murdered at Thiruvananthapuram’s Kovalam. The incident came to light after the woman's body was found headless at a mangrove forest, one month after she went missing. (With inputs from IANS) Read: Let's talk sex: Malayali women are using Clubhouse to break taboos
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