Pushkar is a tourist hub inviting thousands of foreigners to experience its spiritual way of life and its famous camel fair. But this seemingly serene place hides a dark underbelly; this month alone three 3 foreign tourists have become victims of molestation and rape.

Police have labelled these occurrences in a single month a coincidence, insisting that "otherwise Pushkar is a safe place." (Ajmer DSP Sangram Singh). However, labelling these a coincidence might be stretching the truth especially when you consider that one of the accused in the cases of rape reported is a temple priest.

In another case, the owner of a hotel allegedly raped a 35-year-old Swiss woman. And warlier this month another British woman too accused her hotel owner of raping her.

Ask any foreign tourist on the streets of Pushkar and chances are they will have atleast one ugly incident to narrate:

Elizabeth, a South African tourist recounts a disturbing experience that could have turned ugly. "A man was leading me to a shop and it got too far, so we decided to turn around and he harrassed us all the way to the main road. We went inside a shop to try and avoid him and he sat outside waiting for us, which was quite scary."

Patricia Passo, a Brazilian tourist, said it was the cultural gap which leads Indian men to presume foreign women would be more sexually liberal or even promiscuous.

"Sometimes the men in Pushkar, they try to get friendly and they don't understand so much the difference in the relations between women and men in other countries like mine which are more open. I make it clear to them that I am not 'that' kind of girl, I come here to learn about India which is a beautiful country," she said.

But ironically, local men in Pushkar, even as the earn big money from the visitors, feel it is the tourists who bring it upon themselves and even blame them for rising incidence of crime. This kind of double standard is expected in a society where beliefs are rigid, and foreign women in particular are blamed for 'polluting the environment'in the holy city.

Ashok Tak, a shopkeeper, insists, "Pushkar's holy and pure culture and reputation is getting sullied because of foreign tourists." Temple priest Ram Avatar describes foreign women tourists as roaming about 'near naked inciting' men. 

It is this attitude in contrast to the age old saying 'Athi Devo Bhava' - or Treat your Guest as God - that has the Tourism Ministry worried. The Government cannot afford to see its 'Incredible India' campaign sullied by such incidents.

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