Crimes Against Tourists in India - website

Not sure if 'Crimes Against Tourists in India' has already been discussed.

The website is http://www.touristsafetyandjusticeindia.com/

It has been reported, in Australia, that this website is possibly being blocked in India.

We know that most international tourists to India will return home with wonderful memories (and sometimes with a photo or two).

We also know that sometimes international visitors disappear or die in strange circumstances.

The website seeks to raise awareness of Indian authorities' inability to investigate or provide justice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My personal experience was slightly different.

In 2008 I was on a bus in an Indian himalayan region, it was two days before Holi (avoid Holi if you can), there was a raiding party of painted warriors/revellers blocking the road, to be brief, I was assaulted, a side window was smashed and there was blood on the outside of the bus!

I was unharmed, fortunately having ducked to search for my dislodged spectacles and so missed serious injury.
I did not report the matter to the police, however being a himalayan region the police soon knew of the incident and approached me.

The culprit was transported in from the neighbouring district.
The neighbouring district police officer was very apologetic that this incident had occurred and asked me to say what ‘justice’ I wanted, and, in-between touching my ankle, even offered to have the young man responsible “killed”.
Can this be the price for bringing disgrace on your district, or was the ‘offer’ only figurative (we would hope).

Anyway, over a cup of tea at the police station it was decided that the young man would pay for the broken bus window.

In Australia, the young man would have sued the bus company for having unsafe non-automotive glass!

So, be aware, there are some places and junctures that are best avoided.

Nope.

The first para on the homepage tells me I don't need to read anymore, even though I sympathise with the victims' families, who have put up the site and obviously will have a different perspective.

Shrill, inaccurate, exaggerated and alarmist. Next!


Bold mine.

The website seems to be completely anonymous. Just a Gmail address, no word on who owns it.

Absolutely with the Captain on this one.

Read the first para, mutter "bollocks" and move on. Pity, because maybe, somewhere in the depths of their site, they might have something useful to say.

Just one more point: sites do not get blocked in this country. You now have two reports from people in India who are able to view it, so you can do your bit to quash that rumour.

O. I. H.... I'm afraid your experience is rather eclipsed by mentioning that rubbish site; might be better to start again in a new thread if you want to discuss it!

As Nick pointed out, from that first paragraph, it's clearly total bollocks. If I wasn't concerned that gullible people would take this sort of scaremongering seriously I'd call it laughable.

Died. Even if this figure was correct, it would include death from drowning, drug overdose, suicide and natural causes.

Even if I knew nothing about India, I could have spotted this as sloppy tabloid journalism.

I think the purpose of this website is revealed in the last paragraph of the home page

Its supposed to be a sort of antidote for the media hype in India about the recent incidents involving Indians in Australia. It urges Indians to look inwards.... blah blah blah.... I lost the plot after that.

After reading last paragraph...

Goodness... I've used the word "bollocks" about three times as often as usual today!

Good grief; if they want to draw attention to India as not seen through the rose-tinted spectacles of a first-time new-love-besotted traveller, there's plenty to choose from without making up their own crap.

Any Indian newspaper does a better job.

The title / home page certainly is sensationalist (with intention?), and the families’ emotions / frustrations would be clear.

Otherwise there is nothing on the website - except there is an excellent collection of reports, some tabloid, others quality (eg The Independent on Stephen Bennett).
I found many of the reports to be readable, interesting and possibly useful to others.


But, like it is said, the site is bollocks / rubbish and bad news, so let’s bury it !!!

i didnt bother with the site when i when i first saw the thread but your post prompted me to look at the registration info of the site. no surprise for guessing where the owner resides. and an email address/phone number is available as well if anyone wants to get in touch with this coalition.

Domain name: touristsafetyandjusticeindia.c om
Record created on: 2009-07-23
Record expires on: 2010-07-23

Registrant Contact:

Sam Williams
************
Australia

Technical Contact:

Sam Williams
************
Australia
Phone: 000000000000
*******@****.com

Administration Contact:

Sam Williams
************
Australia
Phone: 000000000000
*******@****.com

and i am able to access this site as well....

Brilliant detective work, well done everyone!


That is the icing on the cake!

The last paragraph of the website’s title page actually reads – “At a time when the Indian Government and media are actively questioning the safety of countries like Australia for Indian students, we hope this proud, ancient nation can look inwards and reflect upon some of its own failings and perhaps foster an evolved, mature approach to hosting visitors and law-enforcement.”

It is my opinion that the ‘judgement offered’ by Nayan (the forum leader, who seems to believe in Australian conspiracies !?) has been very poor indeed and shows no trace of an ‘evolved or mature approach’.
The response / attitude of other Indiamikers is equally disappointing, over-defensive and knee-jerk.

So what if the site is owned and run from Australia - a google of Sam Williams suggests he may be a Brisbane / Byron based artist, and therefore have been a friend of the murdered Dawn Griggs.
I would be interested to know what Haylo finds so amusing, what necessitates laughing on the floor?

There was a time when I was proud to be a member at Indiamike and often recommended the forum to travellers. How times have changed in five years.

Just because the website title page is badly written, exaggerated and sloppy tabloid is not cause for total dismissal or gross insensitivity - buckets of shame on the Indiamike forum.

old india hand, my criticism of the site remains what it was in my earlier post. To repeat, it is shrill, inaccurate, exaggerated and alarmist.

The only thing that has changed in my opinion is that I mistakenly thought earlier that the site had been put up by some victims' families. Since it is not (Edit, at least not overtly), my sympathy seems to have been misplaced.

(Yet another Edit): IMHO, criticism of the site and sensitivity towards foreigners who are victims of crime in India are two entirely separate things.

While the victims of crime themselves are obviously not a source of amusement, the idea that this website was supposedly "blocked in India" most certainly is.

Were you not amused by the droll nature in which yet another Indian member reported that they were able to access this supposedly "blocked in India" website?

I thought it was hilarious.

Yep... there was nothing about that site that held my attention for more than a minute. In so far as it might have had anything useful to say, it lost it completely by indulging in exaggeration to the point of lying.

Attacks on tourists make the news here. They are relatively few. One thing you can be sure of is, that, if that becomes a rising trend, our India-resident members will be reporting it on this site.

As to the origins of the site, well, that might be a red herring too. True or false, it makes no difference to the quality of the information on the site --- which is crap.

The message is, nothing to see here, move along!

What do you think it is the Great Firewall of China ?

I can understand blocking Chappal's blogs or Bhookha Naan's comments !!!!

Oh Wait !!!!!! maybe it's not India but Kolkatta blocked it... no, aussies did it !!! they blocked it... They blocked criticism of Chappal and Bhookha Naan...

Oh well... Don't worry .... They shall rise from the ashes to deliverance.