Ahmedabad (Gujarat), August 18: A case showing how distressingly awful is the state of security in railway trains especially in relation to crime against women has come to fore. A distressed minor traveled from Patna to Delhi to Jaipur seeking her way home and then got sexually assaulted by a railway attendant on a moving train en-route to Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.

On August 4 at around 9:40 am, a distressed and disheveled minor was spotted on a platform of Ahmedabad Railway Station. When a dutiful female Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff queried the reason for her predicament, the survivor narrated the horrifying incident that occurred with her on the train.

The complainant said that an attendant whom she met at Jaipur railway station took her into confidence, with an assurance that he will help her safely board a train to Bihar, the victim’s home. He helped the girl board the Ahmedabad bound Swarnim Jayanti Rajdhani Express around 12 a.m. Soon after boarding the train, Sunil Kumar, the attendant took her into the enclosure which on normal days was used to store bed sheets, pillows, napkins, and other utilities for passengers.

However, due to covid regulations, the enclosure was empty and Sunil took advantage of the situation. Hereafter gaging her so that she couldn’t make any noise, he forced himself on her, and then raped her.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) at Ahmedabad station registered an FIR based on the minor’s statement. Inquiries with ticket checkers and other railway staff members, helped the investigators identify the accused. Even before they could catch him, he had already left the station and boarded the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express 02957. Post which Ahmedabad GRP informed their counterparts in Jaipur about him and he was arrested at the Jaipur Railway station at 2:50 am on the intervening night of 4-5 August.

Medical tests were then conducted in Ahmedabad, and later the minor was taken to Jaipur for recording the final statement.

The accused, Sunil Kumar, was booked under sections 3A and 4 of the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual offences) and under IPC sections 365 and 376 for illegal confinement and rape respectively.

Recent developments in the case show that the girl might not be a minor and the medical reports also seem to show that the girl was five months pregnant. The survivor’s parents have been informed and the girl will be handed over to them – before further action on the FIR is initiated.