GOA - The woman, 48, was attacked around 4:00 local time (22:30 GMT) on Thursday as she was walking to her hotel from a railway station, police told PTI news. The accused is a man from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. He fled after also taking three of her bags.
Goa is one of India’s top tourist destinations and its beaches attract thousands of foreigners every year. The woman is a regular visitor to the state. Police said she had been going there every year for the last 10 years.
Police were able to track down the suspect with the help of CCTV footage from the railway station as well as the area where the crime occurred, according to the NDTV news website.
Scarlett Keeling was killed in Goa in 2008 In 2008, Scarlett Keeling, a 15-year-old British teenager was raped and killed while on a trip in Goa. Her killers are yet to be caught. Two men who had faced charges of culpable homicide and grievous sexual assault were both cleared in 2016.
Public outrage over sexual violence in India rose dramatically after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus. This year has seen the issue become a political flashpoint again, after a string of high-profile attacks against children.
However incidents of rape and violence against women continue to be reported from across the country.
Goa is one of the biggest tourist areas in India. It contains some of the country’s most beautiful beaches and welcomes hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists every year.
In 2017, more than 270,000 foreign nationals traveled to the state, according to India’s Ministry of Tourism.
But Goa’s reputation has been repeatedly marred by incidents of sexual assault. Last year, another British national was raped and killed near Deobagh Beach in Canacona.
In 2008, British teenager Scarlett Keeling was raped and murdered in Goa. Two men charged with committing the crime were acquitted in 2016.
India has struggled to reduce high rates of sexual violence against women for decades. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 39,000 rapes reported in India in 2016 -- a rate of about 100 cases every day.
