Unsafe homestays

The rape of an American tourist in a homestay in Coorg last week should be viewed with concern as it pertains to the safety of international as well as domestic tourists. While Karnataka is generally considered a safe destination and its people warm and hospitable, a few such episodes have smudged the state’s copybook, of late. In March 2025, two women tourists, of whom one was an Israeli citizen, were target of gang-rape in Koppal. While the homestay in Coorg where the incident happened, was a registered and legal one, the district administration in a knee-jerk reaction, cancelled its license.

A suspension of the license till the completion of investigation could have sufficed. But it shouldn’t divert the focus from the fact that the hill district has over 2,000 unregistered homestays besides 2,470 officially registered facilities. Moreover, the post of the Deputy Director of Tourism in the district has been lying vacant for several months. It is a matter of guess as to how the vast network of hotels, homestays, resorts and other tourism infrastructure suffers from regulatory deficit in absence of key officials.

The fact that the assault could be reported only after three days—the operator of the facility had disconnected the wi-fi—only when the victim could return to Mysore, highlights the marginal culpability of the operator in that he obstructed the relief to the victim and access to legal recourse. Soon after the Koppal horror, Karnataka state home department had issued guidelines for homestay/hotel/resort owners to follow. It made it mandatory for them to obtain police and forest department permission before taking tourists to wooded or deserted locations. The government also reiterated the mandate issued by the Bureau of Immigration for all property owners to fill Form-C, informing the travel details of foreign tourists within 24 hours of their arrival.

It is worth noting that the administration wakes up to take notice of such guidelines only after certain horrific incidents burst into headlines and stir the conscience of the state. Otherwise, it is business as usual for the rest of the time. It is time the officials as well as the operators of the tourism facilities are reminded of the advisories laid down in the chapter on tourist and safety and comfort in the State Tourism Policy 2024-29 released two years ago. It makes it mandatory for the property owners, police and district administration to work in liaison with each other and logbooks of the hotels and homestays to be checked every fortnight. The accused being a worker from Jharkhand adds a new dimension; the need to keep a tab on all workers hired and assigned duties at such facilities.