Agra/New Delhi, Oct. 26 (IANS): One of the two Swiss tourists attacked and badly injured near Agra four days ago was discharged from Delhi’s Apollo Hospital on Thursday even as five persons, including three minors, were taken into custody for the crime. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who visited Agra, promised better security for tourists.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said while Marie Droz had been discharged from the hospital, her male friend Quentin Jeremy Clerc’s condition was improving. The Swiss embassy in New Delhi confirmed the October 22 attack and said it was providing them consular services.
The ugly attack took place when the young couple was walking alongside a train track in Fatehpur Sikri near Agra. Clerc was left with a fractured skull and several bruises.
Sushma Swaraj sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the assault. Minister of State for Tourism K.J. Alphons expressed deep concern. He said a “fast and speedy response in identifying and ensuring speedy action including conviction of the guilty would be reassuring” and would send a “good message of our efforts to prevent recurrence of such incidents”.
Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Director General of Police Chandra Prakash said one person was arrested from the Agra-Rajasthan border. He declined to reveal the identity of the arrested person.
Police took the Swiss couple to a private hospital in Agra where first aid was given. The couple refused to lodge an FIR and said they would take further treatment at Apollo Hospital in New Delhi. But police lodged a complaint on their own, Prakash said. “We are trying to arrest all the four persons involved in the incident.”
In Fatehpur Sikri area, there have been numerous such incidents targeting innocent tourists, but police have not stepped up vigil, say tour guides.
Condemning the assault on the Swiss tourists, the Congress said the incident “unmasks the ugly face of Anti-Romeo Squads” in the state.
“This attack on the young foreign couple unmasks the ugly face of the Anti-Romeo squad in UP which is fully supported and patronized by the UP government. Rather than protecting tourists and residents of UP, the Chief Minister is working overtime to bring ‘acche din’ for criminals and goons,” Congress spokesman Jaiveer Shergill said.
