Attack on Swiss couple near Agra: Five people, including three minors, detained
A Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said the government was in touch with the Swiss embassy regarding the incident.
The Uttar Pradesh Police have detained five people, three of them minors, in connection with the assault of a Swiss couple visiting Agra’s Fatehpur Sikri on October 22. Quentin Jeremy Clerc’s skull was fractured and his hearing had been affected in the assault, while Marie Droz was left with a broken arm.
The Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, Sulkhan Singh, told the Hindustan Times that five people were involved in the assault. One of the minors was held at the Rajasthan border late on Wednesday night and two others were detained on Thursday in Fatehpur Sikri, Singh said. The two adults were held on Thursday. All five will be produced in a local court on Friday.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the government was in touch with the Swiss embassy regarding the incident. “Our response in such cases is to bring immediate relief to the victims and wish them speedy recovery,” Kumar said at a press conference on Friday. “The ministry believes in quick redressal of the issue.”
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon. The couple was attacked when they were walking along a train track in Fatehpur Sikri, the 16th-century city built by Mughal emperor Akbar. The couple said the men first began remarking loudly about them and then tried to take selfies with Droz. They also tried to find out where the couple was staying in Agra.
“They hurled stones at both of us,” Droz had told The Times of India. “I still cannot understand why they attacked us. They didn’t take any of our valuables.” They said passersby filmed videos of them on their mobile phone after the attack.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Tourism Minister KJ Alphons wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath soon after the assault. Swaraj later tweeted that Droz had been discharged from hospital while Clerc was still recovering.