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A French woman has been arrested in India for making a video of herself naked on a sacred bridge in the northern city of Rishikesh.
The video, shot on the Lakshman Jhula bridge, was posted on social media.
The woman faces charges under India’s internet law, and could be sentenced to up to three years in prison if found guilty, AFP news agency reports.
The suspension bridge over the Ganges river is a holy site and a popular spot for tourists.
The woman, who has since been released on bail, told police the video was made to promote her jewellery business.
“Maybe in France these things are not considered objectionable. But Rishikesh is a holy place and the Lakshman Jhula is the place where [Hindu gods] Ram, his brother Lakshman and wife Sita crossed the Ganges,” RK Saklani, head of the police station where the woman was taken, told AFP.
The woman, who has not been officially identified, was arrested on Thursday after police were alerted to the footage.
“During the questioning, she accepted to have shot the video in [the] nude but claimed she was not aware that it’s illegal in India. She said the video and the photoshoot was intended to promote her bead-necklace business,” another police official told the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times.
The case could take months to process.