E-Paper
‘Railways has to pay for passengers’ stolen luggage’
The Consumer Forum has maintained that passengers are entitled to get compensation from the Railways if their luggage gets stolen during the journey.
The Consumer Forum has maintained that passengers are entitled to get compensation from the Railways if their luggage gets stolen during the journey.
Citing a decision of the National Consumer Protection Commission, which said, the Railways is liable even for those luggage owners, whose bags are not booked, the forum awarded a compensation of Rs 23,000 to a litigant whose Safari suitcase was stolen while she was travelling to Allahabad from Ghaziabad on April 4, 2010.
The full bench of the Consumer Forum comprising Ram Chandra Prakash and Khursheed Habeeb Khan said since the goods of the complainant Sunita Agarwal were stolen during the journey, she was entitled to get compensation.
The Forum rejected the argument of the Railways, which said that no unauthorised person had traveled in the reserved compartment, from where the goods were allegedly stolen.
Sunita who is a resident of Mumfordganj, Allahabad said her locked bag full of ornaments, clothes and money, was stolen from underneath the reserved berth of the train she was traveling.
She had to move the consumer forum when the Railways rejected her compensation plea. The department maintained that no unauthorised person had traveled in the reserved compartment, therefore, the Railway is not liable for the loss.
