Hundreds of visitors to the spiritual town of Rishikesh caught ignoring lockdown laws were forced to write out a sorry speech 500 times.
Travellers from Australia, Israel, Mexico and Austria were found walking in the Indian tourist hotspot.
Rishikesh - where The Beatles sought spirituality at an Ashram in 1968 - has been patrolled by police during the coronavirus pandemic with people spotted out in large groups.
Police have taken steps to ensure the area becomes empty with an old-fashioned punishment put in place.
Local officer Vinod Sharma confirmed the tourists caught walking outside were each made to write "I did not follow the rules of lockdown so I am so sorry" 500 times before being let go.
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More than 700 foreign tourists have flouted the lockdown rules, Sharma said.
He said the unusual sanction was handed out to "teach them a lesson".
It is not the only eccentric way of trying to keep people inside during the Covid-19 crisis in India.
Officers in some areas were also seen on social media making people do squats and leapfrogs as punishment.
But last week things took a turn in the Punjab state's Patiala district.
Police said they arrested nine people when an officer's hand was chopped off after he approached the group for violating the lockdown.
Last month an Indian man went out to buy some milk during the country's lockdown and was beaten so badly by police that he died, his family have claimed.
Lal Swami was heading out to the shops in his home town of Howrah in West Bengal on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old was allegedly stopped by officers, who are enforcing a three week lockdown in the world's most populous country.
According to Mr Swami's family members he was then beaten by the officers.
India has registered nearly 8,500 coronavirus cases with 273 deaths from the disease so for announced.
