India man held for rape of British woman in Goa Published duration 21 December 2018

image copyright AFP

An Indian man has been arrested for allegedly raping and robbing a British tourist in the western state of 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.

This is one of several crimes against foreigners in the state.

An Irish woman, Danielle McLaughlin, was raped and murdered while on holiday in Goa in 2017. Vikhat Bhagat, 24, was arrested soon after her murder and his trial, which began in April, is still under way.

image copyright Family photograph image caption 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.