2 Indians assault girl in Beijing, arrested

BEIJING: Two Indians were arrested for allegedly assaulting a teenage Taiwanese girl inside the lift of a five-star hotel in Beijing early on Friday.

The two Indians, who were a part of a group of tea traders travelling through Shanghai and Beijing, were arrested after the 17-year-old girl complained to hotel authorities about the incident on Thursday night.

Following her complaint, the two men aged 30 and 49, were picked up by the Jianguomen Police from the same hotel early on Friday morning.

The incident occurred around 10pm on Thursday at Beijing International Hotel in the Chinese capital’s central business district where the men and the girl and her parents were staying. The girl’s family was visiting her elder sister, a student at the prestigious Peking University.

According to the girl, the men entered the lift on the 10th floor while the girl was already inside it. First, the young man and then his older companion asked to take photographs with the girl. After clicking the photographs, the younger man forcefully kissed her and the older man then did the same.

As the elevator came down to the first floor, the girl tried to rush out but was pulled back by the older man. The duo then swiped the elevator card up to the 10th floor again and the older man assaulted her.

During the preliminary interrogation, both suspects denied the incident. But their defence crumbled when police showed them the footage from the elevator camera that corroborated the sequence of events narrated by the girl.

Source said the two men, who are both from Haryana, would be kept in detention till July 14 and then deported.