Tourist harassed at Varkala Cliff; police and tourism dept fail to act

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Raising major concerns, yet another case of harassment has been reported from Varkala tourism destination. A German woman tourist was allegedly assaulted by a group of men. The incident has triggered widespread concerns over the growing number of harassment cases at one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. Poor policing, lack of surveillance, CCTVs and streetlights are turning the destination unsafe for women travellers. Interestingly, this is happening at a time when Kerala Tourism is taking massive efforts to brand itself a women friendly tourist destination. The woman, who was in Kerala as part of a programme through the Goethe-Zentrum, Thiruvananthapuram, had visited Varkala along with friends towards the helipad when the incident occurred. The incident happened two days ago around 6.45 pm when a group of men allegedly surrounded and molested her, isolating her from her other friends. Shaken by the experience, the woman later recounted the ordeal. She was so scared and didnt know how to react. She was so shocked that she couldnt report it to the police when she saw them at the helipad. Also the police should provide a WhatsApp number for the tourist to report such harassments. Most of them dont have local mobile phone numbers to report such incidents, said a cafe owner at the cliff. Following this, Director of Goethe Zentrum Syed Ibrahim - who is also the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany for Kerala - filed a complaint with the police. Despite being one of the most visited international tourism hubs, the Varkala cliff area has only two police officers on duty near the helipad. Police presence should be strengthened in the area especially during the weekend. The police never take any responsibility if there is no complaint. They act only when there is a complaint. They were forced to take the case because the Goethe Zentrum escalated the case and filed a complaint, said the cafe owner. Tourism experts are calling for urgent intervention from the state government to address such issues. Kerala may be safe for tourists. But such isolated incidents will have an adverse impact on the industry. Tourism police should be strengthened. The government should discuss these issues in the cabinet and come out with strong decisions. More police officials should be deployed at destinations where complaints are more, he said. The tourism stakeholders at Varkala are planning to meet the police chief to discuss the issue. We have raised this issue earlier and a meeting was called but unfortunately it didnt happen. There should be more lights and every shop on the cliff should install CCTVs. Definitely there should be more police force deployed at the destination to curb such harassment. Its growing day by day. There should be police at the entry point and entry should be restricted in the pathway where these incidents are rampant, said Sanjay Sahadevan, advisor to Varkala Tourism Development Association.