Swedish tourists complains of sexual harassment at Goa

Amid a spate of instances involving sexual harassment and violent assaults on foreign women tourists, a Swedish national has now complained of being molested at a popular tattoo studio, when she was getting a tattoo etched on her back.

The victim, a yoga and Rieki artist from Sweden, in her Facebook post has alleged that the incident occurred at a popular tattoo studio in the beach village of Calangute earlier this month.

Recounting her horror, the victim said that the celebrated artist made her lie down, after asking her to strip naked.

"When I was laying down on the 'bed' he pushed my head down in his lap several times and told me I had to lay like that for him to reach. Several times I could feel his penis against my body," the victim has alleged on Facebook.

The victim also alleges, that she was offered MDMA, popularly known as a ecstacy - a mood-altering drug, by the tattoo artist at the time of tattooing, ostensibly to alleviate pain.

While a complaint has not yet been registered with the police yet, in this case, over the last few months, there has been an increase in the number of assaults - both sexual and physical in nature - on foreign women tourists.

Only two days ago, Zahim Shaikh, a masseur in the South Goa town of Margao, was arrested after he was accused of inappropriately touching a US national, who was in Goa on a holiday.

Last month, one local resident was arrested for stalking and then assaulting a female Russian tourist in the tiny village of Arpora, located in the North Goa tourism belt. Repeated instances of violence against women, especially tourists, and the inability of the police to crack down on such crime, have been listed as one of the reasons for the dip in tourism arrival numbers according to the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, in its representation to the government.