New Delhi:
A South Korean student holidaying on her own in India was allegedly drugged and raped by the son of a hotel owner as she visited a tiger reserve in central India, police said on Friday.
The 23-year-old college student has filed a police case saying she was raped on January 14 after returning to the hotel from a safari at the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh state.
"The incident happened last month but she said she did not have the courage to report it right away. She approached us on Thursday and we have registered a case against the accused," inspector Prakash Kulkarni told AFP.
Mr Kulkarni, a police officer in Aurangabad city of Maharashtra state where the complaint was made, said the case had been transferred to his counterparts in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
The incident comes on the heels of the brutal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi on December 16 last year that has triggered an outpouring of criticism of the police and inadequate safety for women in Indian society.
As many as 24,206 rape cases were reported in the country in 2011 although activists warn these statistics are a gross under-representation due to the social stigma attached with such crimes.
Travel advisories by the US and other foreign embassies warn women not to travel alone in India, saying they are "at risk and should exercise vigilance".