Is the cry from hundreds of female visitors to India from around the world
A Swiss cyclist in Madhya Pradesh, an Irish charity worker in Kolkata, a German teenager on a Mangalore-Chennai train, and a Danish woman in Delhi. a Japanese woman in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.a Russian woman in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi etc etc etc etc
So the advice was changed to
Government-backed travel agencies in Japan and China advised women against all non-essential travel to India. One agent told India Today, “If you are female, even as a group, we advise you not to travel to India unless absolutely necessary.”
The US is more detailed about the travails that Americans, especially of African descent, face in India—lewd comments or groping in market places, train stations, buses, and public streets.
Canada flags the recent increased reporting of assault, rape and sexual aggression.
The Australian government recommends that travellers to India exercise a high degree of caution, especially foreign women who get unwanted attention. Successful prosecutions for sexual harassment and assault are rare, it warns.
Travel publisher Lonely Planet says
“You’re very unlikely to experience violent crime as a woman traveller in India; it’s sexual harassment that you may experience—more so in tourist towns and larger cities in the north of the country. Rude comments, voyeurism, and men ‘brushing against’ or groping women are all common.”
