THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR
Consumer Complaint No. 135 of 2014
Date of Institution : 12.3.2014
Date of Decision : 15.06.2015
Mrs.Shanta Kumar Trakru wife of Shri Hiralal Trakru, 501, Shree III,A-Wing, Riddhi Enclave, Viman Nagar, Pune at present 147, Bhullar Avenue, Fatehgarh Churian Road, Amritsar
...Complainant
Vs.
Northern Railways through its Divisional Railway Manager, Firozpur
The Station Master , Railway Station, Amritsar
....Opp.parties
Complaint under section 12/13 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986
Present : For the complainant : Sh.P.S.Boparai,Advocate
For the opposite parties : Sh.Ramesh Chander Sharma,Advocate
Quorum : Sh. Bhupinder Singh, President ,Ms. Kulwant Bajwa,Member &
Sh.Anoop Sharma,Member
Order dictated by :-
Bhupinder Singh, President
-2-
1 Present complaint has been filed by Mrs.Shanta Trakru under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act alleging therein that she alongwith her husband travelled on 19.10.2012 from Ambala to Amritsar in Shan-e-Punjab Train No. 12494 in Coach D-1 seat No. 57 and 58. According to the complainant she and her husband had two trolley attaches and two luggage bags and these were kept by them near their seat as they had come to attend the marriage ceremony of their close relatives at Jammu and they have to stay with their son at Amritsar . As they were to attend marriage, as such they were having gold ornaments with them , in a purse which was placed in one of the above attaches. The train left Ambala at 10.35 a.m and reached Amritsar at 2.45 p.m. On reaching Amritsar , when the complainant and her husband had to alight the train , the complainant and her husband took their luggage near the passage of exit door and there were two unknown persons standing in the passage and one of them told the complainant and her husband to help them and they keep the luggage of the complainant and her husband on one side. When the train stopped at platform, there was sudden rush of passengers and in this rush, the complainant and her husband tried their best to lift the attaches and bags, but the said persons with the help of their gang members encircled these attaches, pushed away the complainant and her husband and took away the bags with them with a motive to loot the complainant and her husband. The complainant and her husband raised hue and cry to get their luggage back and the aforesaid persons returned the luggage/bags to the complainant and her husband and at that time locks were intact and there was no damage from outside visible. The complainant and her husband collected the bags and went to their son's house. But after half an hour the complainant and her husband opened their attaches to change their clothes, they found that both the attaches were pierced with knife from inside, cloth covering was cut and the purse containing more than 150 gms of gold ornaments mostly Kashmiri type was missing and stolen from the attaches. This fact did not come to the knowledge of the complainant and her husband at that time. The complainant and her husband immediately approached the police and lodged complaint in writing on 19.10.2012, but the police lodged FIR on 20.10.2012 after great efforts FIR No. 88 dated 20.10.2012, P.S. GRP, Amritsar u/s 379 IPC was lodged with the police. Complainant has alleged that on 2.11.2012 one person namely Dharamvir of Hissar, Haryana was nabbed by the Railway police and he confessed that he and other gang members looted gold ornaments from one attache in Shan-e-Punjab on 19.10.2012. The police admitted that four members gang stole valuable cash and jewellery from passengers between Ambala and Amritsar but some minor recovery of 3 gms of ornaments was made from those arrested criminals and railway police collected names and addresses of other persons involved and as per court orders only one person is sent to Jail . Complainant has alleged that after collecting names and addresses of all the accused persons, railway police did not arrest them and it amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties. Alleging the same to be deficiency in service complaint was filed seeking directions to the opposite parties to immediately pay a sum of Rs. 4.79 lacs as value of her looted gold ornaments with interest. Compensation of Rs. 20000/- alongwith litigation expenses were also demanded.
2. On notice, opposite parties appeared and filed written version in which it was submitted that complainant had not booked the luggage nor she had declared the possession of the said articles before any concerned authority of the railway department. It was submitted that on receipt of information the railway police immediately acted upon and nabbed the accused. It was submitted that complainant handed over her luggage to unknown person in a very casual and irresponsible manner. While alighting from the train , complainant had not reported the loss of any article to the staff of the train . It was submitted that when complainant approached the police of GRP Amritsar, they immediately registered FIR in the case and made their best efforts to nab the culprits. The accused in this case have been arrested and recovery had been affected. The challan has been presented in the court of Ilaqa Magistrate and the recovered articles are lying as case property in this case. It was further submitted that matter is subjudice and as such this Forum cannot adjudicate the matter . While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
3. Complainant tendered into evidence her affidavit Ex.C-1, copy of letter dated 31.10.2013 Ex.C-2, copy of letter dated 16.1.2013 Ex.C-3, copy of FIR Ex.C-4, copy of list of gold ornaments Ex.C-5, copy of railway ticket Ex.C-6, copy of letter Ex.C-7, copy of letter dated 17.2.2014 Ex.C-8, copy of railway instructions Ex.C-9.
4. Opposite parties tendered affidavit of Sh. Upjeet Singh, Sr. Divisional Commercial Manager Ex.OP1, copy of remand paper Ex.OP2.
5. We have carefully gone through the pleadings of the parties, arguments advanced by the ld.counsel for the parties and have appreciated the evidence produced on record by both the parties with the valuable assistance of the ld.counsel for the parties.
6. From the record i.e. pleadings of the parties and the evidence produced on record by both the parties , it is clear that complainant alongwith her husband travelled from Ambala to Amritsar on 19.10.2012 in Shan-e-Punjab Train No. 12494 in Coach D-1 Seat No. 57 and 58 against ticket Ex.C-6. The complainant alleges that she and her husband had two trolley attaches and two luggage bags as they had come to attend the marriage ceremony of their close relatives at Jammu and they have to stay with their son at Amritsar. The complainant further alleges that as she had to attend marriage , so gold ornaments of complainant were also taken by her in a purse which was placed in one of the abovesaid attaches. The train left Ambala at 10.35 a.m and reached Amritsar at 2.45 p.m. On reaching Amritsar, when the complainant and her husband had to alight the train , the complainant and her husband took their luggage near the passage of exit door and there were two unknown persons standing in the passage and one of them told the complainant and her husband to help them and they keep the luggage of the complainant and her husband on one side. When the train stopped at platform, there was sudden rush of passengers and in this rush, the complainant and her husband tried their best to lift the attaches and bags, but the said persons with the help of their gang members encircled these attaches and took away the bags with them . The complainant and her husband raised hue and cry to get their luggage back and the aforesaid persons returned the luggage/bags to the complainant and her husband and at that time locks were intact and there was no damage from outside visible. The complainant and her husband collected the bags and went to their son's house. After half an hour the complainant and her husband opened their attaches to change their clothes, they found that both the attaches were pierced with knife from inside, cloth covering was cut and the purse containing more than 150 gms of gold ornaments mostly Kashmiri type was missing and stolen from the attaches. This fact did not come to the knowledge of the complainant and her husband at that time. The complainant and her husband immediately approached the police and lodged complaint in writing on 19.10.2012 . But the police lodged FIR on 20.10.2012 after investigation of the fact i.e. FIR No. 88 dated 20.10.2012, P.S. GRP, Amritsar u/s 379 IPC, copy of which is Ex.C-4. The complainant further submitted that on 2.11.2012 one person namely Dharamvir of Hissar, Haryana was nabbed by the Railway police and he confessed that he and other gang members looted gold ornaments from one attache in Shan-e-Punjab on 19.10.2012. The Railway police admitted that four members gang stole valuable cash and jewellery from passengers between Ambala and Amritsar but some minor recovery of 3 gms of ornaments was made from those arrested criminals. But the police could not nab the other criminals. The accused in jail has also been released on bail. So Railway police has committed negligence in their duty and could not nab the criminals and could not recover the stolen articles of the complainant. The complainant received letter dated 31.10.2013 from Railway Protection Force Ex.C-2. The complainant also received letter from IG Police, GRP, Punjab, Patiala letter dated 21.2.2013 Ex.C-7 in which the GRP had admitted that in the aforesaid FIR one accused namely Dharambir alias Mattu has been arrested on 2.11.2012 and one pair of tops, two rings and one lady purse pricing estimate of Rs. 23000/- has been recovered from him and other three culprits are still at large, identification of accused and gold ornaments recovered from him, has been made by the complainant. Ld.counsel for the complainant submitted that all this amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties qua the complainant.
7. Whereas the case of the opposite party is that the complainant is guilty of its own wrongs. The complainant had not booked the luggage as mentioned in the complaint nor she had declared the possession of the said articles before any authority of the Railway department. The complainant herself is negligent and irresponsible while handling the luggage belonging to her. She has handed over her luggage to unknown person in a very casual and irresponsible manner. Apart from this while alighting from the train she had not reported the loss of any articles to the staff of the train or TTE accompanying the train and she left the Railway station for her house without taking her luggage and only on the next day i.e. 20.10.2012 she came to get the FIR registered. In this case the police of GRP Amritsar immediately registered FIR and made their best efforts to nab the culprits. The accused in this case have been arrested and some recovery had been affected. The challan has been presented in the Court of Ilaqa Magistrate and the recovered articles are lying as case property in that criminal case which is pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar. It cannot be expected from a prudent traveller that they should hand over their luggage to persons, who were by their appearance looking criminals carrying deadly knife with them. As the complainant did not lodge any report with the Railway authorities and was informed the Govt. Railway Police (GRP) Amritsar on the next day i.e. 20.10.2012 at 18.15 hours i.e. at 6.15 p.m as is evident from the copy of FIR Ex.C-4. The GRP Amritsar acted promptly and have arrested one of the accused and some recovery had been effected from him. Challan has been presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar and the same is pending adjudication and the property, if any recovered is also lying in that case as case property. Ld.counsel for the opposite party submitted that there is no deficiency of service on the part of the opposite party qua the complainant.
8. From the entire above discussion, it stands fully proved on record that complainant alongwith her husband travelled on 19.10.2012 from Ambala to Amritsar in Train No. 12494 Shan-e-Punjab in Coach D-1, seat No. 57 and 58 as per ticket Ex.C-6. The train left Ambala Railway station at 10.35 a.m and reached Amritsar Railway station at 2.45 p.m . On reaching Amritsar Railway station, when the complainant and her husband had to alight the train and were getting their luggage which included two trolley attaches, two luggage bags and they took their luggage near the passage of exit door where two unknown persons standing in the passage told the complainant and her husband to help them to download the luggage from the train as there was rush at Platform. When the train stopped at platform , they took the luggage of the complainant and her husband with the help of their gang members. All this shows that the aforesaid criminal persons alighted the luggage of the complainant and her husband from the train and took the same on platform and then took away the same after pushing the complainant and her husband aside. Then the complainant and her husband raised hue and cry . However by that time , they have taken away some gold ornaments lying inside in one of the attaches of the complainant and her husband. The complainant and her husband raised hue and cry and then got the luggage i.e. two trolley attaches and two bags from those persons and then took the same to the house of their son working in Khanna Paper Mill, Amritsar. All this shows that this act happened on the platform and not inside the train. Neither the complainant nor her husband, fully knowing that the aforesaid criminals took away the luggage of the complainant and her husband after pushing the complainant and her husband away and they had to raise hue and cry , only then they could get their luggage from those unscrupulous persons, why the complainant and her husband did not check their luggage i.e. attaches and bags on the platform and why they did not report the matter to the police GRP, Amritsar immediately when the Police Station, GRP is very much in the premises of the Railway Station, Amritsar. Rather they took away their luggage to the house of their son and after reaching the house of their son, they opened the attaches and bags and then they found that inner cloth of one of the attaches was pierced with knife and a purse containing gold ornaments of the complainant was missing which was containing 150 gm gold ornaments. The complainant has submitted that they opened the attaches after about half an hour on reaching the house of their son which means before 4.00 p.m complainant and her husband came to know that the purse containing gold ornaments weighing 150 gm was missing from their luggage, then why they did not rush to the GRP,Amritsar to lodge report on the same day i.e. 19.10.2012. No doubt the complainant alleges that he alongwith her husband lodged complaint with the police ,GRP, Amritsar on the same day on the basis of which FIR Ex.C-4 was registered,whereas FIR Ex.C-4 itself proves that the husband of the complainant gave information regarding the loss to the police on 20.10.2012 at 18.15 hours i.e. 6.15 p.m, whereas occurrence took place on 19.10.2012 at 2.50 p.m.
All this shows that the occurrence, if any, took place on the platform and not inside the railway train. Further the occurrence took place on 19.10.2012 at 2.50 p.m and the criminals have taken away the attaches and bags of the complainant and her husband after pushing them away and the complainant had to get the same back from those criminals after raising hue and cry, then why they did not check their luggage at the spot i.e. on the platform itself and why they did not lodge the report with the police i.e. GRP Police Station, Amritsar which is very much within the premises of the Railway Station, Amritsar. Moreover, the complainant herself has alleged that she came to know about the theft of aforesaid articles from the luggage of the complainant and her husband after half an hour after reaching the house of her son on the same day i.e. 19.10.2012, then why she or her husband did not report the matter to the police on the same day . Rather they reported the matter
to the police i.e. GRP, Amritsar on the next day i.e. 20.10.2012 and that too at 6.15
p.m i.e. after a lapse of more than 27 hours. Not only this the GRP Railway Station immediately registered FIR and took prompt action and they nabbed some of the accused at District Hissar Haryana and recovered one pair of Tops, two rings and one lady purse pricing estimate of Rs. 23000/- as is evident from the letter written by the office of IG Police, GRP, Punjab Patiala to Deputy Director, Railway Board, New Delhi with copy to the complainant i.e. letter bearing No.5739-40/C.Br. Dated 21.2.2013 Ex.C-7. The challan has been presented against the accused which is pending adjudication in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate,Amritsar.
9. The complainant did not submit the details of the gold articles allegedly stolen by the thieves from one of the attaches of the complainant. She has simply stated that gold ornaments weighing 150 gm were stolen by the thieves. In this regard she has placed on record a letter head pad of Shroff Kanaiyalal & Sons, Pune in which only it has been mentioned regarding 4 bangles weighing 60.320 gms, chain one weighing 26.430 gm, ear rings weighing 20.880 gms and other articles total weighing of 153.532 gms. But nothing has been mentioned on this letter head pad as to what was the price of these articles. Whether these articles were got prepared by same persons. No name of the person, who purchased these articles, has been mentioned nor there is any number on the bill nor any date has been mentioned nor the name of the person, who made initial on it has been mentioned. So it cannot be related to the complainant or that these articles were purchased by the complainant on which date, month or year nor the complainant produced any affidavit of the proprietor of the jewellery shop to prove that the complainant had ever purchased these articles for how much amount on which date month or year ?
10. So from the entire above discussion we have come to the conclusion that the complainant has failed to prove on record any negligence or deficiency of service on the part of the Railway department or any negligence on the part of GRP, Amritsar.
11. Resultantly we hold that the complaint is without merit and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. Copies of the order be furnished to the parties free of costs. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room.
12. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Forum.
15.06.2015 ( Bhupinder Singh )
President
( Kulwant Kaur Bajwa) (Anoop Sharma)
/R/ Member Member
