India Hotel Owner Denies Attempted Rape After 'Scared' British Tourist jumps From Window

Two men have appeared in court in India accused of harassing the British tourist who jumped from a hotel window fearing sexual assault.

The manager of the three-star Agra Mahal hotel, Sachin Chauhan, and a second man believed to be a hotel guard have appeared before a magistrate court in the northern city of Agra following the incident.

Chauhan and the guard were arrested on charges of molestation, and the former received a further charge of attempted rape shortly before the court hearing. He denied the charges.

The woman in her 30s sustained injuries to her leg after fleeing her room by jumping from the first floor window. She claims she was "too scared" to leave by conventional means, after the men allegedly tried to force their way into her room in the middle of the night.

Reports suggest the woman had asked for a wake-up call at 04:00 local time, but the hotel owner offered her a massage after he knocked on her door and refused to leave.

She said in court: ""I refused and asked him to leave but he was insistent. I had to push him out with the door, and then I bolted the door. He remained outside my door trying to get in with his keys until 5am. I was shouting at him to stop harassing me, I told him I wanted him to go.

"I was too scared to leave my room as he was waiting outside. I was kicking the door and shouting for help but no one came."

"I shouted at them to stop harassing me but it continued."

'My client is being framed'

After jumping out the window, the woman suffered hairline fractures to her legs and treated at the Sarojini Naidu Medical College in Agra.

She added: "I ran into the road but no one would stop. I begged him [the rickshaw driver] to take me to the tourist police station.

"A man approached him and tried to make him bring me back to the hotel. So I jumped out of the rickshaw and ran some more. The driver caught up with me and said he understood and took me to the police station."

Prakash Narayan Sharma, lawyer for the hotel owner, said his client was being framed and the woman is making up the story.

He said: "The woman herself asked for a wake-up call as she had to catch an early morning train to Jaipur. The manager, along with the hotel's security guard, went to the room and knocked on the door.

"When they did not get any response, they opened the room with the hotel key. The woman then, for reasons best known to her, jumped off from the balcony."

The hotel's licence has since been suspended for the duration of the investigation.

The incident arrives days after a Swiss tourist was gang-raped in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India.

Following the attack on the Swiss tourist, the Foreign Office updated its travel advice to woman wishing to visit India.

READ: India: Woman 'Raped by Husband and his Legal Team at Court'