There was a discussion of this incident on the Indians For guns forum and one of the members (who is also a member here) posted about it in detail. Apparently, a Japanese tourist was on the elephant on a photo safari (the hunting of tigers has been outlawed for a long time in India) and the tiger was chased away by the mahout who was injured in the attack. He was later commended for his bravery by the Indian government - the incident took place in Rajasthan not very long ago.