A Calcutta University student on a field trip to Varanasi had a horror ride home, molested by youths on a train in Uttar Pradesh and told by cops in Howrah that such incidents were common in UP and Bihar. The victim, part of a group split across several coaches, recounts her plight to Metro

We were a group of 18. Two were research scholars and the rest of us were human rights students. There were three boys in our group. Our weeklong trip ended on Sunday.

We reached Varanasi station on Sunday evening to board the Howrah-bound Amritsar Mail, which was late by an hour. While we were waiting for the train, around 60-70 youths, all apparently in their 20s, appeared on the platform.

At first I thought these men — we later learnt they were from Bihar and had come to Varanasi to appear in an exam for jobs in a bank — would board some other train, but when the Amritsar Mail arrived, they crowded around the gates of the reserved coaches.

Our seats were across S-4, S-7 and S-8. Mine was in S-8.

Holding luggage with both hands, I was standing helplessly on the platform, struggling to keep my balance as the youths kept pushing us from all sides, trying to barge into the train all at a time.

I spotted one of my male classmates struggling like me to get into S-7. I called out to him in panic. He heard me and motioned for us — me and the others in our group booked on S-7 — to join him. Not knowing what to do, we ran towards him.

The situation was the same there — some members of the gang had jammed the gates of S-7 as well. It was because of this male friend that we could board the train, which left Varanasi at 6pm.

The moment I got into the train, I could feel hands groping me from all sides. Being a human rights student — my trip to Varanasi was in part to work on my paper “Sexual assault by drug peddlers” — I have learnt to find a voice against anything unjust.

But this was an experience that made me feel so helpless. Acting on my instinct, I kept shouting till my voice cracked. But there was no end to the torture.

My friends and I struggled to move inside the train. Finally after fighting our way through the crowd, we managed to reach where our other friends were seated.

Just when I broke free from the mob and was beginning to think that the worst was over, I realised to my horror that my clothes were torn. I had no option but to move through the same crowd again to the toilet to change.

What started as a frightening experience soon turned into a nightmare as some of the louts forced their way to the upper berths and dangled their feet over our heads. Some of them stretched their legs from one berth to the other.

When we asked them to vacate our seats, a youth shot back: “Chup-chaap baitho, yaha to aisa hi hota hai .”

To make the situation worse, two of them started singing offensive songs. Others joined in. Our co-passengers were just silent spectators.

Being outnumbered, we kept quiet, hoping the TTE would come soon. He did not turned up. It was around 9pm that some relief finally came in the form of a few men in uniform. One of my friends narrated our plight to her elder brother, who has some contacts in the railways, over the phone.

Following his intervention, the RPF men holding lathis came to our coach. The jawans drove out the youths, who got off the train through one gate only to get back through another.

Most of them got down at Patna station but a handful — around eight — remained. Angry with us for alerting the RPF, the youths this time targeted one of our male classmates and started assaulting him. But this time some of the co-passengers took our side and pulled the chain. Much to our relief, the other co-passengers rescued our friend and forced the youths to get off. It was around 12.45am.

Around 3.45am, another group of RPF men, who apparently knew about our plight, came and took down our names. It was barely 30minutes before we were to reach Howrah that the TTE appeared.

On reaching Howrah, the first thing we did was register a complaint with the GRP. The officers treated us well but their reaction to our horror story shocked us. “E-shob Bihar-UP-te hoyei thake (Such incidents are common in Bihar and UP),” an officer said.

Can’t someone put an end to this?

As told to Monalisa Chaudhuri

Have you faced harassment on a train to or from Calcutta? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com