'Cannot Get A Blanket Cover For Its Negligent Behaviour': State Commision Holds Indian Railways Liable For Onboard Theft

The state consumer dispute redressal commission has turned down an appeal filed by the Indian Railways against the district commission’s order, which had held the railways responsible for an onboard theft of one of its travelling passengers, thus causing deficiency as a service provider.

The state commission held that the railway cannot get blanket protection if the passenger can prove that the loss or the theft occurred due to negligence or misconduct of the railways.

The state commission had referred to a citation, which reads out certain duties of train conductors in the first, second and third AC class coaches to ensure the safety of the passengers. The commission in its orders maintained that section 100 of the Railway Act says that railways are not responsible for the theft or loss of the luggage carried by the passengers with them unless it is shown that such a loss or theft had occurred due to the negligence or misconduct on the part of railways or any of it’s employees.

In April 2018, Bhanu Prasad Shukla and his wife Meena Shukla were travelling to Bhopal, to attend their niece’s wedding. They had booked a second AC ticket of Punjab Mail. At 3am, when the train reached Burhanpur, Meena woke up and realised that her bag, which contained valuables and money was stolen, she raised an alarm when people as well as the ticket checker reached out to her. Meena said that her bag had valuables worth 2.51 lakh.

In 2020, the couple approached the district commission and filed a complaint against the railways. In 2022, the district commission held Railways responsible for deficient services and asked them to pay Rs 2.5 lakh to the complainant along with 12% interest from 2020.

Aggrieved by the same order, Indian Railways approached the state commission to file an appeal against the same, but the state commission upheld the district commission’s order and held the railways responsible for the faulty services.