CHENNAI: Is the railways accountable for theft of valuables from passengers? A consumer forum in Chennai has replied in the positive, ordering the transporter to pay Rs 4.05 lakh as compensation to a family from which valuables worth about Rs 10 lakh were stolen in a running train.
While the railways argued that the theft of the properties was only due to negligence of the passengers, the forum ruled that it was the failure of the TTE in preventing the entry of unauthorised persons into a reserved coach that resulted in the theft. Hence, the railways is liable to compensating the passenger for the loss.
The theft happened when the family of Kamal Kumar Maheshwary and Meenakshmi Maheshwary, both NRIs, were travelling to New Delhi from Chennai in Second AC (2A) class coach of the Tamil Nadu Express on January 20, 2015.