American Tourist Gang-Raped in Manali, Police Say

Altaf Qadri/Associated Press A demonstration in Delhi on Dec. 30, 2012, to protest sexual violence against women in India.

A 30-year-old American woman was raped by three men in the northern resort town of Manali, Himachal Pradesh, on Tuesday, according to the local police.

The woman, who was traveling with three women, arrived in Manali on Monday and was staying at a guesthouse in Old Manali, said a local police official, who did not wish to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The police official said the woman headed to Vashisht, a place about 3 kilometers (2 miles) north of Manali that is famous for its hot springs, on Monday evening to meet a friend.

At 1 a.m. on Tuesday in Vashisht, she was looking for an auto-rickshaw to return to her guesthouse when a truck with three men approached her. They persuaded her to board the truck by saying that they would give her a ride to Old Manali since they were headed there. Instead, the men took her to a secluded spot and raped her.

The woman then reported the rape to the police. She has not been hospitalized, the police official said.

“The victim described the alleged rapists as young men between the ages of 19 and 25,” said Neelchand Sharma, the station house officer of the Manali police station. The woman lodged a complaint with the police at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, he said.

She was taken to the Community Health Center in Manali, where the initial examination by a doctor confirmed that she had been raped, Mr. Sharma said. The police continued their investigation, after which she went back to her guesthouse later in the afternoon.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made, and efforts to find the men are still under way. The police have set up roadblocks to stop all trucks from leaving Manali and have ordered every truck driver in Manali to report to the local police station.

Peter Vrooman, spokesman for the American Embassy in Delhi, said the embassy was in contact with the authorities and declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns.

The rape of the American woman has once again raised concerns about the safety and security of women traveling in India. Since the beginning of this year, attacks on female tourists in India have occurred with alarming regularity.

In January, a South Korean woman accused a manager of a Madhya Pradesh resort of drugging and raping her. On March 15, a group of men raped a 39-year-old Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh while attacking her husband.

Four days later, a 25-year-old British tourist jumped off the balcony of her hotel room in Agra because she feared that she would be sexually assaulted after the hotel owner broke into her room and refused to leave.

Some tourism industry officials have suggested that these events have had an adverse effect on the inflow of foreign tourists to India. A survey released March 31 by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India showed that there was a 25 percent drop in foreign tourists since December, during the high season, with a 35 percent fall among female travelers.

Pamposh Raina and Malavika Vyawahare contributed reporting.