Finnish tourist charged for bathing nude in Indian holy lake

A female Finnish tourist was charged by Indian police after bathing nude in a lake considered to be holy by Hindus, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The tourist, who was not identified, swam in the lake and then walked to her hotel in the nude. Temple priests asked her to put her clothes on, but she ignored them, The Times of India newspaper reported. The woman appeared to be mentally unstable, it said.

Police in the Hindu holy town of Pushkar charged her with "obscenity at a public place," Sugan Singh, a local police officer, was quoted as saying in The Statesman newspaper.

If convicted, the tourist could be jailed for three months or fined under India's obscenity laws.

Pushkar, located on the banks of Pushkar Lake, is a popular Hindu pilgrimage spot that is also frequented by foreign tourists who come for the town's annual cattle fair and camel races.

Last month an Israeli man and woman were fined 500 Indian rupees (US$11; Ђ9.20) each for embracing and kissing in a temple in Pushkar after getting married in a traditional Hindu ceremony, reports the AP.

P.T.