Thai Woman Visiting India To Meet Her Child In Kerala Raped By 2 Men, Including Facebook Friend

Police in Kerala's Malappuram has arrested two men for allegedly raping a Thailand national.

The 46-year-old woman from Bangkok had recently come to Kerala to visit her child who was studying in a school in Malappuram and was staying in a hotel.

BCCL

On Wednesday, the accused, one of them, identified as Mohammed Insaf whom the woman had befriended on Facebook after she got her child admitted in the school in Kerala came to meet her in the hotel. Insaf was accompanied by his friend Ansaruddin, both residents of Kondotty in Malappuram district.

Inside the hotel room, Insaf and Ansaruddin raped the woman and fled the scene.

The duo has been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman.

All formalities including medical examination of the woman were completed, police said.

BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

Wednesday's incident once again shows how unsafe women in India are, both citizens and visitors.

Such incidents will also result in the image of the country being affected globally and get branded as an unsafe location for visitors.

This is particularly bad for a state like Kerala, which is heavily dependent on its tourism industry. According to the Kerala Government, till September 2019, over eight lakh foreign tourists had visited the state.

Kerala's reputation as a foreign-tourist friendly location had taken a beating in 2018 after Liga Skromane, a Latvian Tourist was raped and murdered by two men in Kovalam. The woman who was in Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment for depression had gone missing from the Ayurvedic treatment center after she stepped out. Nearly a month later a decomposed and headless body was found at a mangrove forest near Kovalam, which the family identified as of Liga's.

BCCL

In November 2019, the United Kingdom has issued an advisory to its citizens who are planning to travel to India or are living in the country to be wary about their safety, especially of women. The advisory said that women travellers should exercise caution when travelling in India even if travelling in a group.

The advisory also has listed several recent cases of sexual assaults on British citizens in India in recent times.

In March 2019, the US government¡¯s India travel advisory- which places India at ¡®level 2¡¯ security that requires travelers to ¡°exercise increased caution¡± ¨C said, ¡°Indian authorities report rape is one of the fastest growing crimes in India. Violent crime, such as sexual assault, has occurred at tourist sites and in other locations.¡±