Bizarre incidents befall growing number of French tourists in India

A Frenchman was offered as sacrifice in a temple near Agra recently. Another jumped into a hot spring near Rishikesh in a sudden outbrust of frenzy. A passenger identified as French was murdered in a train compartment and a girl, also French, accompanying him was thrown out of the moving train.

These bizarre incidents provide only a glimpse of the fate that has befallen a growing number of French tourists who have flooded India in recent years. The statistics are enough to make anyone sit up. In the last three years 23 French citizens have died in India; 85 others are reported missing; and 159 served time in Indian jails on charges ranging from overstaying to drug trafficking. The phenomenon appears to be a peculiarly French one, since no other embassy has a problem of such magnitude to report. In fact French Embassy officials are more than a little puzzled and are at a total loss for any explanation.

The increase in the influx of young French tourists began four years ago. Though the exact number of these tourists could not be ascertained, their numbers have increased by at least 35 per cent every year. K.K. Paul, the deputy commissioner of police, relates this phenomenon to drug addiction in Europe.