Police in north-east India on Wednesday (April 19) arrested a man for stalking a Korean tourist and exposing his genitals to her while she was making a video blog.
A 29-second Twitter video that has gone viral in India shows the woman filming herself as she walks through a neighbourhood in Jodhpur, a city in India’s Rajasthan state known for its blue-tinted houses and the ruins of an ancient fort.
The man could be seen tailing her and leering at her. He then overtook her along a flight of stairs, and, as she approached, took out his genitals.
The woman walked briskly away, screaming. But he kept following her, grinning.
The Korean tourist’s video went viral, catching the attention of police in Jodhpur.
Jodhpur East deputy police commissioner Amrita Duhan said in a Twitter post that the man had been identified and arrested.
Probers are now ascertaining his mental health, she said.
Reacting to the video, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal called the man’s action “extremely disgusting and shameful”.
“People like these are spoiling the image of our great country,” she said.
This is not the first incident of a tourist-influencer being sexually harassed and assaulted in India.
In December, South Korean video blogger Hyojeong Park was harassed by two men in Mumbai.
The 60-second video shows a man grabbing her hand and trying to drag her to a motorcycle.
When she refused, the man tried to put his arm around her and kiss her. But she managed to wrench herself away from him.
But the man returned, this time with another man on a motorcycle, and insisted that she go with them, even as she kept shouting at them and telling them to “go away”.
Seeing the commotion, two other men approached her. One chased away her assailants, while the other called the police.
In March, a Japanese spa manager was seen being molested by an unruly mob on a street in New Delhi.
In a 24-second video, a rowdy group of men and boys can be seen dousing her with coloured water and powder on a street in Delhi’s Paharganj area as they shout, “Happy Holi”, as is tradition during the Hindu festival of Holi.
But they were also groping her, touching her chest, and pushing her around, even as she tried to flee from them, telling them repeatedly, “itai, itai”, which is Japanese for “it hurts”.
This article was first published in Asia One . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
