Male passengers in the ladies’ compartment of 13040 Delhi-Howrah Janata Express in Asansol on Tuesday. Pictures by Aparna Chatterjee

Baburam, a fruitseller from Jharkhand, boarded the bogie with his wife and two children

Asansol, July 24: The moustaches were unmistakable, so was the baritone. Not to mention the cheeky — not sheepish — smile that is louder than a thousand words when you are somewhere you are not supposed to be but are assured that no harm will come to you.

All of which looked business as usual yesterday in the ladies’ compartment of the Delhi-Howrah Janata Express, the same train in which a man terrorised a TCS employee so much on Sunday that she either leaped or fell from the moving train.

At Asansol station yesterday, many male passengers were boarding in ladies’ compartment of Janata Express (13040 Down), which rolled into 12.52pm at platform 5, a stone’s throw from the Government Railway Police post.

At least 20 male passengers were already occupying the seats. Another four or five male passengers jostled with one another to board the compartment — in full view of a GRP patrol.

Other than the word “LADIES” stencilled on the door, there was little to suggest that the compartment is reserved for a particular group. The men outnumbered the five women and two minor boys.

Two youths were sprawled on the seats and a third was sitting, all busy chatting. Asked whey they had boarded the ladies’ compartment, one of them retorted: “What is wrong in it?”

Then he explained the reason. “We are going to see a relative admitted to a hospital in Calcutta. This compartment is almost empty and we found a good place to sit as well as lie down. We are not disturbing anybody. What is your problem? Is any lady passenger not getting a seat?”

Another man, Sambhu Mahato, a labourer, asked: “Is it (the bogie) only meant for ladies?”

He said he “did not know that because I found so many men inside when I boarded this train at Jhajha (in Jharkhand). All along the way no one told me so and neither did anyone stop me from entering the compartment or tell me to get off.”

The men seemed to be unaware that travel by male adults in a ladies’ compartment under any circumstance is a punishable offence and can be fined between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

Some lady passengers said male passengers are a regular fixture. “We choose the ladies’ compartment when we are travelling alone because it is supposed to be free of male passengers and safe for us. But in reality, it is not so. At every station, male passengers are boarding or getting off and there is no guard to stop them. We don’t protest for fear of harassment,” said a woman going to Calcutta where her husband works.

Asked whether she was aware of Sunday’s incident, she said: “The law enforcers have not learnt a lesson from that day. Male passengers are sitting freely in the ladies’ coach and the GRP personnel patrolling on the platform turning a blind eye. What will happen to us?”

Seconds before the train left the station, it was proved how easily the problem can be tackled. Asked by this correspondent why they were not doing anything, a GRP team entered the bogie and several male passengers got off in a hurry.

Jayanta Dutta, inspector-in-charge, GRP, Asansol, directed a couple of constables to go to the ladies’ compartment to check if there were men inside. “I didn’t know about this,” Dutta said. “I’ll have this checked.”

As soon as the GRP constables entered the compartment, the youths lying sprawled on their seats, who had earlier refused to disclose their names, quickly got off through another door.

“See, these people know that they are violating the rules. That is why they got off,” a constable said.

Following the youths’ cue, several other male passengers also quickly slipped out.

But about four or five men refused to budge. The GRP constables rounded them up and hustled them to the GRP office, apparently to fine them.

But as the train began to slowly pull out, fruitseller Baburam from Jharkhand, who was accompanying his wife and two children and who had got off when the GRP constables had come for inspection, quickly jumped onto the moving train.

“We will see what happens in the next station,” Baburam said.

Junior railway minister, Adhir Chowdhury said the GRP was tasked with ensuring passenger safety in trains. “The force is under the control of state government. We have repeatedly told the state government to ensure that GRP step up vigil and prevent male intruders from entering ladies bogie,” Chowdhury told The Telegraph.

Milan Kanto Das superintendent of railway police, Howrah, said the force was now running short of manpower because of the panchayat elections.

“We frequently check the ladies’ compartments and fine the offenders. It is not mandatory to deploy guard in ladies’ compartment in daytime. We provide armed guard in some trains running at night,” he said.