FATEHPUR SIKRI, India — Quentin Jérémy Clerc and Marie Droz were getting away from the tourist trail. Visiting Fatehpur Sikri — once the capital of the Mughal Empire, and about 25 miles from the Taj Mahal — the young Swiss couple decided to explore a secluded portion of its crumbling fortress.

The trouble began around midday after they left the fortress, following a set of railway tracks to a scrubby field where they encountered a group of local boys and young men.

Youths would later tell the police that the couple, both 24, had offended them by ignoring their greetings and kissing in front of them. Not so, Ms. Droz told The Times of India. They were trying to force her to take selfies with them, Mr. Clerc added. Eventually, they began beating the couple with sticks and rocks.

By the time a crowd had gathered and the youths had run away, he had a fractured skull and possibly permanent hearing damage and she had a fractured left arm. “The blood was flowing,” said Ram Kishor, a police constable in the area.