A 35-year-old Australian tourist was assaulted by a group of residents of a village in Bagalkot district of Karnataka after he allegedly misbehaved with women in the village.
The incident occurred at 9:30 pm on Monday night when William K James, a resident of Melbourne, was tied up and assaulted by some residents of Kondanakoppa village near Badami.
"The tourist was alone and had taken a bus ticket to travel from Badami to Bagalkot. We are trying to determine why he got down from the bus and was found in an interior village. The residents in the village alleged that he misbehaved with women, and in response, attacked him," Bagalkot SP Lokesh Jagalasar told TNM.
Konkanakoppa village is around 17 km from Badami, and is close to the road leading from Badami to Bagalkot.
Following the assault, William was rushed to a private hospital in Bagalkot, where doctors confirmed he was inebriated. Police officials said that he is out of danger now. The Australian Embassy was informed of the incident.
The residents of the village have not come forward with a complaint against the William, police said.
A suo motu case was registered against the group that assaulted the tourist. "We are trying to ascertain how many people were involved in the assault and their identities. We have not found videos of the assault but we will be forming a team to investigate the incident swiftly," the police official added. An FIR has been registered under sections 321 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 322 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) at the Kerur Police Station.
Police officials added that the instances of assault against foreign tourists are not common in the district, in spite areas like Badami being tourist attractions. The place is known for cave temples cut out of sandstone rocks dating back to AD 540.