The district consumer forum has now directed the Indian Railways to pay a compensation fee of Rs 19,056 to a girl whose phone was stolen during a journey from Gwalior to Indore.
The consumer forum decided officially by not making sure of the safety of passengers’ goods, railways committed deficiency in services.
Consumer forum judicial member Satyendra Joshi and expert member Kundan Singh Chouhan also instructed railways to pay Rs 3000 against mental harassment and Rs 1000 against litigation cost.
18-year-old girl, identified as Kalika Yadav was travelling with another girl in a second class sleeper coach of Bhind-Indore intercity express from Gwalior, when the train engine failed causing a stop at Pachor for around 3 hours on April 17, 2014.
Around 7.30 am, she learnt that her phone was missing. Also, FIR was lodged by GRP.
The complainant alleged that since Indian railways failed to ensure the safety of her goods in the train, she should be granted compensation.
However, Railways replied to the petition claiming that it was only responsible for only goods that were booked in its parcel service.
Then it claimed that the incident happened in Pachor, therefore Shajapur district consumer forum had jurisdiction over it. The forum also ruled that since the ticket was actually booked till Indore, it had jurisdiction to hear the case.
It also cited judgments passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, wherein it was also mentioned that there is a big gap in the amount paid by a passenger in unreserved coach when compared to reserved.
So, the passenger travelling in the reserved coach is expected to have a safe and smooth journey. The forum then went on to enlist duties of ticket examiner that include the responsibility to restrain the entry of unauthorized people in train coaches.
Citing a judgement passed by the Supreme Court, the forum also directed Indian railways to make the payment to the complainant.