On train journey, mind your luggage

Pushpa Girimaji

Is it true that consumer courts are awarding compensation to passengers of even unreserved railway compartments for loss of baggage? Recently, I had to travel to my hometown urgently and I could not get reservation and had to travel in an unreserved compartment. As I had no berth, I was sitting throughout the journey and was awake. But, at some stage, I must have dozed off and when I woke up I found my suitcase kept underneath my seat, gone. I want to know if I can file a complaint before the consumer court seeking compensation for the loss of the bag.

So far consumer courts have awarded compensation to passengers of reserved compartments for loss of their baggage or valuables. The logic here is that the railway staff did not do the job entrusted to them: of preventing unauthorised persons from entering reserved coaches and locking the doors of the reserved coaches and the vestibules in the night to prevent such entry. Describing this as negligence, the consumer courts have held the Railways liable for the consequences and directed them to make good the loss suffered by the consumer.

However, in a recent case — Station Master, Rajnagar Railway Station Vs Kamal Narain Roy (RP No 1903 of 2015, decided on July 3, 2019) — the consumer court awarded compensation to a passenger of an unreserved coach for the loss of his baggage. This was unusual and the reason why this was done was because the passenger argued that the thief had decamped with his baggage in the darkness of the coach. He said the engine was detached from the coach and the compartment had no light. So the consumer court at the district level held the Railways guilty of deficient service as it had not provided light in the compartment and liable for the consequence of such negligent service.

Thus, generally, consumer courts do not award compensation to passengers of unreserved compartments for the loss of their baggage, but if you can establish some deficiency or negligence of the Railways, resulting in the loss of your bag, then you may well be able to get compensation.

In this case, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission awarded Rs 13,500 for loss of baggage and 12 per cent interest on the amount, besides Rs 10,000 as compensation and Rs 2,000 as costs. However, the State Consumer Commission reduced the compensation from Rs 10,000 to Rs 3,000 and brought down the interest rate to 6 per cent. In response to the revision petition filed by the Railways, the National Consumer Commission said it did not see any jurisdictional error or miscarriage of justice and the petition failed on grounds of limitation as well as merits. The revision petition was filed after a long delay.

How does one protect one’s belongings on a train? The increasing number of thefts has made it very difficult to safeguard one’s baggage.

It’s truly unfortunate that thefts on trains are only increasing by the year. While in 2014, the Railways received 14,301 complaints of theft on trains, the number jumped to 22, 106 in 2016 and 33,568 and 36,584 in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Consumers, therefore, need to demand that the Railways spruce up safety and security on the trains. Besides providing an adequate number of police personnel on vulnerable routes, the Railways need to provide CCTV cameras on every coach, so as to identify and nab the culprits. Similarly, they must take stringent action against the railway staff that fails to secure the doors and prevent the entry of unauthorised persons into reserved coaches. The Railways also need to quicken the process of registering the cases of theft and investigating into them. Similarly, the railway staff should have direct access to the police through a hotline for reporting cases of theft on running trains.

Having said that I would also urge the passengers to not carry jewellery and cash along. In most cases of theft, passengers have said that they were going to a wedding and were, therefore, carrying jewellery. Buy artificial jewellery for the purpose and do not wear or carry any gold jewellery with you. Similarly, restrict the cash to the bare minimum that you need for expenses during travel. The rest can be withdrawn from your account using an Automated Teller Machine after reaching the destination. And call the railway helpline number 182 for reporting any case of theft. Lastly, drink lots of coffee and stay awake during your journey and safeguard your bag!