Can I rectify the mistakes in E-Ticket booked online

It is a big question if change of name and/or change of gender can be carried out online in respect of confirmed online E-Ticket issued by Indian Railways. If Indian Railways permit this facility the tricksters will book advance e-tickets in dummy names and rectify in the name of real travellers or passengers by charging hefty fees. To check this malpractice the Indian Railway has not allowed the rectification facility at IRCTC site online. However under exceptional circumstances the changes in name are permitted subject to following rules:

1. Save as otherwise, a berth or a seat reserved in the name of a person shall be used only by the person and shall not be transferable to any other person.
2. Chief Reservation Supervisor of important stations are authorized by Railway Administration to permit the change of name of a passenger having a seat or berth reserved in his name in the following circumstances namely:

• Where the passenger is a Government Servant, proceeding on duty and appropriate authority, makes a request in writing 24 hours before the scheduled departure of trains.
• Where the passenger makes a request in writing 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train that the reservation made in his name may be transferred to another member of his family, meaning, Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Son, Daughter, Husband and Wife.
• Where the passengers are students of a recognized educational institution and the Head of the institution makes a request in writing 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, that the reservation made in the name of any student be transferred to any other student of the same institute.
• Where the passengers are members of a marriage party and any person deemed to be Head of such party makes a request in writing 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train that the reservation made in the name of any member of the marriage party be transferred to any other person.
• Where the passengers are a group of cadets of National Cadet Corps and any officer who is the head of the group, makes a request in writing at least 24 hours before the departure of the train that the reservation made in the name of any cadet be transferred to any other cadet.

However Such request will be granted only once. Regarding item no. (c), (d) and (e), such request for change in excess of 10% of the total strength of group shall not be granted.

What to do in case of wrongly reserved E-Ticket: There is no way to change Gender, Age or Surname in the online booked E-Ticket. Some IT Persons recommend taking the print out in illegal and unofficial ways by following the steps below:

open irctc website and select your ticket before printing right click on male/female  
> click on inspect element 
>Edit male/Female
>press enter
>Print  it

But it will be better to approach the nearest ICRTC Reservations Centre along with proof of identity of the passengers whose Name, Surname, Age and/or Gender is to be changed. The booking clerk may amend the ticket after charging the differences if any. For example if you entered the age 65 instead of 35 and availed the senior citizen discount then you will have to pay back the concession availed. This facility is not available for Tatkal Tickets. 

If the Ticket is booked very well in advance and you can afford to bear the cancellation charges it is always better to cancel the ticket with wrong particulars and book fresh ticket online. In case of rail accidents it may become very difficult to claim compensation in case of rail accident  on the basis of wrong name/surname/gender/age as the same will not match with the ID Proof of the passenger and Railway Claims Tribunal may reject the claim on account of "Passenger Travelling on Unauthorised Ticket".