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An outrageous instance of supposed sexual violence has been recorded on the Ahmedabad-Gorakhpur Express, and this has triggered new concern regarding the safety of women in Indian Railways.

A 24-year-old Army aspirant and NCC cadet boarded the train without any confirmed ticket on the night of 15-16 February 2026 at the time when she was returning from her NCC certificate examination of the (C) type at Mau in Uttar Pradesh. On a regular ticket-checking at the AC coach, the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE), whom she identified as Rahul Kumar, caught her eye.

The survivor filed the FIR against the Government Railway Police (GRP), providing that the TTE had offered to put him up in the First AC coach after he had paid the required fine for ticketless travel. She went to a cabin with him allegedly under this pretext. After entering, he had closed the door on the inside and tried to rape her when the train was between the Indara and Deoria stations.

The woman opposed and gave an alarm. The accused was supposed to have threatened her over an implication case of ticketless travel unless she reported it. She was also able to report after arriving at Gorakhpur, where she called 112 and made the complaint. Police filed an FIR on attempted rape cases and also performed her medical examination.

GRP SP Laxmi Niwas Mishra affirmed that the accused TTE, who is a resident of Bihar, is a fugitive. An RS.10,000 reward has been offered for information resulting in his arrest, and raids are being made in the districts.

The incident has elicited a lot of anger on social media and in women's rights movements, and this has served to raise awareness of how authority is misapplied among the railway staff and the necessity to improve security, particularly for women using the coach alone. Indian Railways and GRP have taken a strict step, yet the case demonstrates ongoing problems with the safety of passengers using long trains. The search persists with the government increasing efforts to hunt the wanted TTE down.