A woman recently recounted a harrowing experience on an Indian train in a Reddit post, detailing how she was allegedly harassed by a man in a sleeper coach. Posting in the ‘Indian Railways’ subreddit, the 23-year-old woman described how her ordeal began on the Vananchal Express (13403) starting from Ranchi Junction. “This wasn’t my first time traveling alone but yeah this was my first time alone in a sleeper coach,” she began.
She explained that everything was fine until two male passengers boarded the train and took the seats in front of her. “The 40yo man was busy with his phone but the 20yo was staring at me continuously. I just pretended that I didn’t see him staring at me and kept scrolling reels. After about 5-6 minutes he started whistling and when I looked at him he winked and started to laugh. I was just stunned like w** just happened,” she recounted.
But that was only the beginning. As she headed towards the washroom, the younger man followed her, whistling again. This time, the older man noticed something was wrong. However, instead of intervening, he said things like, “dekhna hai toh dekho ye sab mat kro” “dekhna ukhna chalta hai” (If you want to look, just look. Don’t do these things), “dekh ke maza lo bas (It’s fine to look, just enjoy).”
Despite there being around three other men and a woman nearby, no one intervened.
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“I was literally on the verge of crying. I then took out my phone and called my father and spoke loudly so that they hear it “Papa aap seat pe hi aajaiyega mere pass saman bohot zyada hai (Papa, please come to my seat. I have a lot of luggage)” and stuff.”
As she gathered her belongings to get off at her station, the young man dared to ask for her phone number. “I ignored and walked as fast as I could to get out of the train. Luckily my father came inside and that was when I took a sigh of relief.”
While she expressed a wish that she had retaliated, the experience left her deeply scarred. “There’s no way I am traveling alone in a sleeper class now. Never in my life!!!!”
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The post quickly went viral, with many urging her to take action against the harassers.
