Man held over Brit India 'assault'

A hotel owner has been arrested following claims a British tourist jumped from the hotel's balcony fearing he was about to sexually attack her, local police said.

The 30-year-old woman was staying at a hotel in Agra, close to the Taj Mahal.

Police said the alleged incident happened just before 4:00am, when the hotel owner, Sachin Chauhan, repeatedly offered the unnamed woman a free oil massage, Reuters reported.

Senior superintendent Subhash Chandra Dubey said, "The accused knocked at her room at 3:45am [local time] yesterday morning and told her about their scheme of a free oil massage ... The woman refused and closed the door".

"She says that he kept on knocking at the door for a long time afterwards and then later he also called his security guard and both of them began to knock at the door".

"The woman jumped from the balcony to the storey below and from there escaped, and then came over and lodged a complaint at the police station," he added.

Police said Chauhan was booked under section 354 of India's penal code, which deals with "assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty".

Local TV station NDTV reports that the British tourist jumped after a man forced his way into her room on the first floor.

She was reportedly taken to hospital with head injuries and fractures to both her legs.

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for women travelling to India today in light of a serious sexual assault against a Swiss woman in Madyha Pradesh earlier this month.

It is thought the update was made before today's reports of a British woman escaping sexual assault.

The Foreign Office is "urgently" investigating reports suggesting a British woman jumped from a hotel window to escape an apparent sexual assault in India.

The 25-year-old is said to be in a serious condition after leaping from the building in the city of Agra in the north of the country.

A Foreign Office spokesman said:

A British female tourist has been admitted to hospital in a serious condition in Agra, northern India, after jumping out of her hotel window to escape a sexual assault, Zee News reports citing India's IANS news agency.