A couple from Lausanne in Switzerland was chased and attacked with stones and sticks by a group of youths in Fatehpur Sikri on Sunday, leaving them battered and bruised.Quentin Jeremy Clerc, 24, who came to India on September 30 with his girlfriend Marie Droz, also 24, told TOI from his hospital bed in Delhi that they were strolling near the railway station at Fatehpur Sikri after a day in Agra when the group started following them. “They initially passed comments, which we didn’t understand, and then forced us to stop so they could take selfies with Marie,“ he said. The harassment soon turned into an attack so brutal that it left Clerc with a fractured skull and a clot in his brain.Doctors attending on him said a blow that struck one of his ears has caused hearing impairment.Droz has a broken arm and multiple bruises.

The couple said as they lay on the ground bloodied and bruised, bystanders began taking videos of them on their mobile phones.

Recounting the horror, Clerc said, “The boys wouldn’t stop walking along despite our protests. All the while they kept taking pictures and trying to get close to Marie. From whatever little we could understand, they were asking our names and the place where we had put up in Agra. They were harassing us. They asked us to accompany them to some place, which we refused. A little after stones and sticks began to rain on me. When Marie intervened, she, too, wasn’t spared.“ Droz said she first tho ught the boys “won’t hit a woman“. She was wrong. “They hurled stones at both of us. I was hit on the back, shoulder and hand. I still cannot understand why they attacked us. They didn’t take any of our valuables.“

She refuted what she called “rumours“ and said they were not kissing, something one of the local cops hinted was the reason why the “crowd was instigated“.

Dr Rajendra Prasad, the neurosurgeon in Delhi who Clerc and Droz were brought to, said, “The boy had a skull fracture and blood clot in the brain. He was immediately admitted to the ICU. His hearing nerve on the right ear has been affected. The girl broke her left arm in the attack and was operated upon on Tuesday .“

Circle officer at Achnera (Agra district) Satyam Singh said that the foreigners “weren’t interested“ in filing any police complaint, but a non-cognisable report has been registered against four youths. By evening on Wednesday two of the attackers had been identified. No arrests have been made so far.