Indian police have arrested a man accused of stalking and inappropriately touching two Australian cricketers competing in the ICC Women’s World Cup, officials said Saturday.
The incident occurred Thursday morning in Indore, central India, when the two players left their hotel to go to a cafe, police officer Rajesh Dandotiya said. AFP.
“We received a complaint from Australian team security and immediately took action, registered a case and identified the accused within six hours,” Dandotiya said.
Violence against women remains a chronic problem in the world’s most populous country, where an average of nearly 90 rapes per day were reported in 2022.
Dandotiya said the 30-year-old man who was arrested had a criminal record. The man followed the players and approached them “for a bad encounter” about 800 meters from their hotel.
The two players were not identified by Indian police or Cricket Australia, which confirmed the incident.
“The matter was reported by the security team to the police, who are looking into the matter,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
THE Times of India The newspaper reported that the team’s security officer received a distress message from one of the cricketers saying “…there is a guy following us and trying to catch us”.
Team officials were informed and went to the scene to help the players, the newspaper said.
A police patrol then escorted the players safely to the team hotel.
Police said they had opened proceedings against the man arrested for “inappropriate behavior and criminal harassment”.
Australia took on South Africa in their group match in Indore on Saturday.
India has made progress toward gender equality and women’s empowerment in recent years, but women’s safety remains a major concern.
