Nine years later: Indian Railways to pay Rs 7 lakh to passenger for stolen luggage

RAIPUR, JAN. 22: In a nine-year-old theft case, the Chhattisgarh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has on Saturday, held the Indian Railways accountable to compensate for the stolen luggage of a passenger and ordered it to pay Rs 7.18 lakh to the aggrieved.

Bhupendra Jain, a resident of Raipur, was travelling with his wife Shalini from Jaipur on 22 June 2014 by Jaipur-Chennai super fast express in AC reserved coach when his luggage was stolen sometime during the night.

He filed a complaint with the Government Railway Police (GRP) at the next station in Kota and later an FIR in Nagda. Jain later handed the complaint and FIR copy to the Raipur Divisional Railway Manager seeking compensation but didn’t get any relief. The couple then moved to the consumer court.

The Railways contended that the case on seeking damages appears to be fallacious since the passengers were carrying the luggage against the given guidelines in the coach.After hearing the arguments from both the parties, the court cited deficiency in services on the part of Railways.

The commission also found negligence of the TTE and the coach attendant.The court then ordered the Railways to additionally pay Rs 5,000 for causing mental agony and Rs 2,000 towards the cost of litigation to the passenger.

The Commission cited that it was the responsibility of the Railways to overlook the security of the passengers and their luggage by regular patrol by the security personnels.

What a distressed passenger should do

In such instances, a passenger must immediately inform the TTE or the guard and get an FIR filed to for the legal battle for compensation. Such a move will strengthen the ground for the passenger. If the complaint register is not available then the application can be given on a plain paper with the seal and signatures of the attendants.

-TNIE