Passenger Should Protect Luggage From Theft, Not Railways: High Court

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said a passenger travelling in train was responsible for the safety of their luggage and Railways was not liable for any theft unless there was negligence or misconduct by its officials.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja passed the verdict while hearing a man's plea alleging he was travelling in a 3rd AC coach and his backpack, having his laptop, camera, charger, eye glasses and ATM cards, was stolen during the journey from New Delhi to Nagpur in January, 2013.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had previously dismissed his complaint which claimed over Rs 84,000 for the loss of goods aside from Rs 1 lakh for the harassment due to deficiency in services.

The high court upheld the national commission's decision and said the claim was mainly based on the fact that the attendant was sleeping and rude, and the conductor was not traceable.

However, the court said, there was "not even a whisper" of the doors of the coach being left open to enable some unauthorised intruder to commit the theft.

The verdict pointed out that the mere absence of the conductor per se might not amount to deficiency of service when there was no allegation with respect to his failure to close the door.

"There has to be a reasonable nexus between the commission of the theft and the negligence of duty by the conductor and the attendant.. There is nothing on record to suggest that the theft could not have been carried out by some co-passenger on board. If that was so, even the presence of the Conductor in the train would have been of no help," the judgement said.

Referring to a Supreme Court decision, the high court found it "abundantly clear" that the passenger was responsible for the safekeeping their belongings and not the Railways.

The consumer district forum had first held the Railways to be deficient in service and awarded Rs 5,000 as compensation to the petitioner for harassment in 2014.

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission enhanced it to Rs 1 lakh in 2023.

The order of the state commission was set aside by the national commission in 2024 after the authorities filed a revision petition.

The passenger challenged the national commission's order and sought a direction for restoring the state commission's decision.

"This court finds no perversity or impropriety in the impugned judgment dated 29.08.2024 passed by the NCDRC. There is no merit in the petition. Petition is accordingly dismissed," the high court held.

Railways argued in the high court that as per the applicable rules, it could not be held responsible for the loss of any un-booked luggage and pointed out if the petitioner had used the strong iron rings under the seat to tie or lock their luggage, the theft wouldn't have taken place.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)