NEW DELHI: A consumer court in Bihar has pulled up Indian Railways after four passengers with confirmed tickets were allegedly forced to travel standing throughout their journey because their reserved berths were occupied by others.The Bhojpur District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the railways to pay Rs 20,000 in compensation to the passengers, along with a refund of the ticket amount and litigation costs.What was the dispute?The case involved four passengers, the complainant and three friends — who travelled on the LTT-Patna Express, on October 2, 2022. They had booked the tickets via the IRCTC portal on October 1, 2022 for the journey from Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh to Ara in Bihar, and had confirmed seat numbers 58, 62, 63, and 68 in the B4 coach, paying Rs 1,876.80 for the tickets.When they boarded the train, which arrived about an hour late — they found their seats already taken. The passengers approached to their seats but the seats were occupied by some stranger persons introducing themselves as railways employees, who behaved rudely when asked to vacate.The passengers then searched for a TTE and Railway Protection Force personnel but could not locate either. They also tried calling the Railway helpline 139 but were unable to connect. They then turned to social media, filing complaints on the official Twitter handles of Indian Railways — @RailwaySeva and @RailMinIndia.Even at Buxar station, when a TTE finally appeared and the passengers repeated their complaint, he reportedly dismissed them, saying it was “the season of rush so manage.” The passengers completed their entire journey without seats despite having the confirmed reservations.What did the commission say?The bench, comprising Krishna Pratap Singh and Kamal Kishore Singh, held that the Railways had failed in its duty to provide the service promised under a confirmed reservation, thereby causing “mental, physical and economical harassment” to the passengers.After examining photocopies of printed railway tickets, complaint records from Twitter, text messages, and photographs, the commission concluded that the evidence was clear.“It is crystal clear that the petitioner along with other three friends suffered mental, physical and economical harassment and it constitutes deficiency of service by the O.P. no. 1 and 3,” the commission noted.Before the commission, North Central Railway and the Ministry of Railways argued that the matter related to law and order and therefore fell under the jurisdiction of the Government Railway Police (GRP), not the railway administration. They also claimed there was no deficiency of service and that the passengers’ seats had been made available.East Central Railway sought to be removed from the case, arguing that the journey originated in the North Central Railway zone. The commission rejected the railways’ arguments after reviewing the evidence and found the complaint maintainable.The commission further directed North Central Railway and the Ministry of Railways to refund the ticket amount of Rs 1,876.80 with 8 per cent annual interest, pay Rs 20,000 as compensation for mental, physical and economic harassment and pay Rs 15,000 as litigation costsThe bench further said that the full amount must be paid within 60 days. If delayed, the complainant would be free to recover the said amount through the process of law with 10 per cent annual interest.
