Delhi High Court ruled that passengers are responsible for their own luggage during train journeys. Railways can’t be blamed for theft unless their staff acted carelessly or negligently.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court clearly said that a passenger is responsible for keeping their luggage safe while travelling by train, and the Indian Railways is not responsible for theft, unless its staff was careless or did something wrong.
This decision came from Justice Ravinder Dudeja, who was hearing a case filed by a man. The man said that his backpack got stolen while he was travelling in a 3rd AC coach from New Delhi to Nagpur in January 2013. He claimed that his bag had a laptop, camera, charger, spectacles, and ATM cards.
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The man had earlier gone to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and demanded more than Rs 84,000 for the stolen items, and Rs 1 lakh for mental harassment, saying that Railways did not provide proper service. However, the NCDRC had already rejected his complaint.
Now, the Delhi High Court also agreed with the NCDRC. The Court noted that the man’s claim was mostly based on the attendant being rude and sleeping, and the conductor was not found. But the Court said that this was not enough to blame Railways.
The court made it very clear that there was no proof that the train’s doors were left open, which could have allowed an outsider to enter and steal the luggage.
“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 Court also said that just because the conductor was not present does not mean there was bad service. The passenger did not say anything about whether the conductor failed to close the coach 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 Delhi High Court also referred to a past Supreme Court judgement, saying that:
“It is ‘abundantly clear’ that the passenger was responsible for the safekeeping their belongings and not the Railways.”
In earlier stages of the case, the District Consumer Forum had first said that Railways was at fault and gave the man Rs 5,000 for mental harassment in 2014.
Later, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission increased this amount to Rs 1 lakh in 2023.
However, in 2024, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) cancelled this order after Railways filed a revision petition. The passenger then challenged this decision in the High Court and asked the Court to bring back the earlier compensation order from the State Commission.
But the Delhi High Court finally rejected his plea and supported the NCDRC’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.”
Railways also told the Court that, according to the rules, it is not responsible for theft of un-booked luggage. It added that if the passenger had used the iron rings provided under the train seat to tie or lock his luggage, the theft may have been avoided.
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