Police: India tourist, fearing hotel owner, makes balcony-to-balcony escape
By Jason Hanna, CNN
updated 9:20 AM EDT, Tue March 19, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Police: A hotel owner told a woman he had a massage for her
- The woman jumped from the balcony of her hotel room to another floor
- She feared the hotel owner and complained of harassment, police say
- The incident comes amid high-profile assault cases in India
(CNN) -- A British woman touring India dropped from her hotel room's balcony to the one below to escape the hotel's owner, who had been trying to enter her room, police said Tuesday.
The owner was arrested on a harassment complaint, police said. A police official initially told CNN the owner was suspected of attempted rape, but Agra District Police Chief Subhash Dubey later said the woman was complaining only of harassment.
Doctors say the woman, traveling alone in Agra, might have ligament injuries but no fracture from her balcony-to-balcony escape, according to Dubey. She will cut short the rest of her trip and return to the United Kingdom, he said.
The woman locked the door of her room when the owner, Sachin Chauhan, offered her what he said was a preplanned massage, Dubey said. When Chauhan kept knocking on the door and insisted on the service, she left through her balcony, according to Dubey.
The man has denied any intention to assault the woman, Dubey told CNN. He added the woman is feeling afraid, and the police superintendent and two female constables are staying with her.
The incident comes amid a number of high-profile accusations of violence against women in India, and protests demanding that the violence end.
Opinion: End culture of rape in 2013
Last week, five men were accused of raping a Swiss tourist. Police said the men confessed to the crime, which allegedly took place in central India at a camping area near a forest in Datia district. Confessions in police custody are not admissible in court, however, and can be retracted.
That incident sparked demonstrations demanding that lawmakers be held accountable for a lack of law and order.
India was the focus of worldwide attention and national outrage in December after a 23-year-old student was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi. She died in a Singapore hospital from injuries she suffered in the attack.
Read: Rape case 'an awakening' for India, victim's father says
CNN's Samira Said contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
updated 1:24 PM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
"It's always the one we feared, the lone wolf that can come from nowhere and not be on our radar," said ex-London police chief John Yates.
One woman's never-ending battle against sex slavery in the Philippines, with a warrior ally in her corner. Watch the compelling documentary here.
updated 6:43 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
Ai Weiwei, the controversial Chinese artist-activist, has released a music single and video inspired by his harrowing detention by the government.
updated 1:22 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
CNN's Christiane Amanpour and Nic Robertson give their insight on the brutal murder of a man in broad daylight.
updated 11:49 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
President Obama is to speak on the CIA drone program and plans for the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Here are common counterterrorism myths.
updated 10:15 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
Imagine if you could paint a working light switch directly onto your wall, without any need for sockets, cables or wiring. Well, now you can.
updated 10:45 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
A rare Apple 1 computer, with only 50 in existence today, could sell at auction for $400,000.
updated 7:53 PM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
1,400 members of the Boy Scouts of America's national council are expected to vote on whether to end the 103-year-old group's ban on gay youths.
updated 1:14 PM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
Did you know that hurricanes can also produce tornadoes? Read facts you didn't know about destructive twisters.
updated 9:01 AM EDT, Wed May 22, 2013
The petite frame of 19-year-old Zoe Smith should fool nobody -- she's a weightlifting warrior who has fought stereotypes and broken a British record.
updated 10:55 AM EDT, Wed May 22, 2013
According to the United Nations' mission in Iraq, 712 Iraqis were violently killed in April 2013. This is both normal and extraordinary.
updated 7:19 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
The World Economic Forum has declared Egypt one of the most dangerous places for tourists, above Yemen and Pakistan in terms of risks for visitors.
updated 5:07 PM EDT, Thu May 23, 2013
Doctors used an experimental technique never before tried on a human to save the life of a six-week-old baby from a rare lung condition.
updated 5:26 PM EDT, Wed May 22, 2013
Since hitting the Web in 2007, the hit blogs among the 105 million hosted on Tumblr have tended to be silly, snarky or both.
Five years after the 2008 Olympics construction boom, new Beijing hotels keep right on coming.