India sexual assault reports probed (From Hillingdon Times)

India sexual assault reports probed

10:03am Tuesday 19th March 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013

The Foreign Office is "urgently" investigating reports suggesting a British woman jumped from a hotel window to escape an apparent sexual assault in India.

The 25-year-old is said to be in a serious condition after leaping from the building in the city of Agra in the north of the country.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and we are urgently looking into it. We are in contact with our colleagues in India."

The tourist is said to have jumped after a man forced his way into her room on the first floor. She was apparently taken to hospital with head injuries and fractures to both legs.

Details relating to the British woman's ordeal appeared confused later on, with police official Manish Sisodia saying the tourist jumped from a room on the third floor, contradicting earlier reports.

The Foreign Office (FCO) urges women to "exercise caution" in India, even when travelling as part of a group.

Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, lies more than 120 miles north of Datia, in Madhya Pradesh, where six men have been arrested over the rape of a Swiss tourist who was cycling in India with her husband.

The woman was attacked on Friday night when the couple stopped to camp in a forest. The pair told police she was raped by seven or eight men but was unable to specify the precise number because it was dark.

The group of six men - said to be poor farmers from nearby villages - appeared in court charged with gang rape.

It came three months after the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus which sparked outrage across India and made headlines around the world.