‘Felt unsafe’: Student in crowded Diwali train reports ticketless travellers drinking, molesting women

Diwali rush: Visuals of the crowded coach shared by passenger Ch Kumar Satya Chandramouli.

Chennai student Ch Kumar Satya Chandramouli was supposed to take a train to his home in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday for Diwali, but when he approached his coach, he first mistook it for a general compartment.

"It was so crowded. There was barely any place to move around," the 19-year-old BTech student told Moneycontrol. He was shocked at first and found his seat in the sleeper class compartment already occupied by two ticketless passengers and multiple baggage.

"I had to squabble for 15 minutes for those occupying my seat to vacate it but there were so many bags left by other people that there was barely any space to sit at all," Chandramouli said. He also shared a video that showed the coach teeming with people even in the corridor and the washroom area.

@IRCTCofficial I don't is this the way that Indian railways maintain the trains ?Iam traveling from Chennai Central (MAS) to Rajamundry (RJY) in train 06071 Mas Src sf Spl I booked sleeper class ticket with PNR 4604702320(coach S1 & seat number 8) and I am feeling very insure pic.twitter.com/5VGCIaLp7w

— mouli ch (@Mouli_CH_) November 11, 2023

"There were people sitting even inside the washroom," the teen traveller said, adding that he was shouted at when he tried to use it. "The toilet was filthy and there was no water."

Chandramouli also said that he did not feel safe on the train because several of the ticketless travellers were smoking, drinking, and openly trying to molest women passengers.

"Once, I saw this guy who was smoking trying to grope a woman who was trying to get off the train... I tried to shield her as much as I could because I too was getting off at the same station, but she looked visibly uncomfortable," he said.

When asked if he reached out to the Indian Railways for help, Chandramouli said that he called the helpline number and was told that officials would help vacate the coach of ticketless travellers at the next station but no such help arrived. "There were no ticket checkers or even RPF officers. I want to ask the Railways, who is responsible for our safety and what will happen if is there any case of sexual harassment on the train? And who is going to compensate the money? I paid the full fare but was barely able to sit, forget laying down to sleep," he told Moneycontrol.

Chandramouli added that he felt unsafe almost through the entire 12-hour journey. "People were drinking and smoking. There was no RPF, no security. Anything could have happened. I felt unsafe and couldn't sleep a wink all night," he said.

The 19-year-old is not alone in this predicament. A 27-year-old man from Gujarat was forced out of his train by a crowd of ticketless travellers despite having a confirmed 3-tier AC ticket. Anshul Sharma wanted to rush home and spend Diwali with his ageing parents but instead, he was manhandled, laughed at, and made to watch as the tightly packed train that was supposed to take him home to Ratlam, pulled out of the Vadodara station without him.

There have been several such incidents across the country with irate passengers taking to social media to share videos of the crowded trains and to slam the Railways for the mismanagement. Despite special trains being run to clear the festive rush, there have been multiple reports of ticketless travellers taking over reserved coaches as legitimate passengers with confirmed tickets suffered extremely uncomfortable journeys or had to give up their seats and miss the trains entirely.

Read more: 'Filthy toilets, crowded coaches': Passengers share pics, videos of packed trains during Diwali rush