Chennai: A government railway police (GRP) constable, under the guise of being helpful, made a lewd suggestion to a 37-year-old schoolteacher travelling with her two children on the Muthu Nagar express on Tuesday, and attempted to molest her later when she was asleep. The woman, who boarded the train at Kovilpatti on Monday night, to get off at Tambaram, did not have a reserved ticket. She was travelling on a reservation against cancellation (RAC) ticket.

GRP constable Vinoth boarded the train around 10.30 pm at Madurai junction. Striking up a conversation with the woman, he told her that he would look for berths on the train for her and her children. “Promising her this, he took her mobile phone number, saying that he would call her if he found a berth,” said a police source. An hour later, he called up the woman and is said to have told her that he couldn’t find a berth, but could offer his berth to her if she was willing to share it with him, said a source close to the victim. Irked by his audacity, the woman snapped back at him and cut the line.

Around 1 am, “The woman felt someone touching her and immediately woke up and let out a scream,”, alerting others in the compartment. The train, which was approaching Tiruchy junction, had slowed down enough for the constable to jump off the coach and flee to escape from mob justice.

However, he left behind his lathi and duty logbook which revealed his identity. The woman chose to file a complaint with the Tambaram railway police as she was travelling with children and would have had to miss the train to make a complaint at Tiruchy, sources said. The Tambaram GRP initially refused to accept the complaint, pointing out that the incident took place at Trichy. But they took possession of their fellow constable’s lathi and logbook. The teacher reportedly said she would take up the case with higher authorities after which by Tuesday evening, the Tambaram GRP forwarded a memo to Tiruchy to look into the case. The woman reached Vellore later in the day. Further investigations are on.