My Horrifying Train Robbery Experience II

Finally, I made myself accept that we and only we were the victims of robbery. It was the month of December and 3:40 am in winters is just like midnight. It took nearly an hour till things settled out. We registered an official complaint in the complaint register, present in the train.

A first time victim to such a fraud act, I didn’t know the accurate method to deal with it. There was only one thing that I knew and that was I wanted a police complaint. I wanted to leave no stone unturned from my side. I wanted to do all that I could do to get the matter solved.

Most of the passengers in the bogie were now awake discussing about the robbery. One lady came to me asking about the case. I gave her a brief account. Listening to my tale she started her own…. a robbery incident that took place with one of her relatives. She went on and on without taking into the consideration the listeners state of mind and interest.

My mind kept on pondering on who could have been the informer. There were few whom I even doubted. The man who joined us from the Hatiya station or the guy who although was not in our compartment had spent some time in our compartment with the couple. When the robbery happened he did not come to our compartment. At night he was so friendly to the couple, even had dinner together and now that theft occurred in the same compartment he did not even care to ask. His indifferent attitude made him one of the suspects in my eyes.

But simply pinpointing someone without any valid evidence was totally futile so I let my mind give up the idea of suspecting people. When we( I and husband) decided to de-board the train at the next station for filing an FIR, most of the passengers (including the TTE) said that it would be of no good. It would cause unnecessary hassle. Complained had already been registered in the railway complaint book which was equally good .

But I differed to their opinion. I was adamant. I was ready to take the trouble of handling all this. So, finally we got down at the next station, Samastipur. It was totally a new junction for us. We directly went to the Railway police station.

We were told that registering FIR would not be easy unless backed by some recommendation. So, we managed a recommendation from one our relatives who was in railways in UP(Uttar Pradesh).His connections worked in Bihar. A reporter (from one of the leading dailies) reached the station as soon we were there. His presence coupled with the recommendation worked as the right amount of pressure on the senior official.

It was a chilly winter morning. It is not easy to handle situations when you are with an infant. In the police station I had to feed my baby and also had to clean his potty that was so untimely.

After an hour of wait finally a railway official entered the room. His attire was totally in contrast to his designation. He was in a 'lungi' , with a shawl around himself. He was assigned with the task of writing down the FIR copy.

He asked some questions to my husband. On not getting the relevant answer to one of his questions he got angry ( may be was taking out his grudge for having disturbed his morning sleep). He said something in a high pitched voice. His raised tone actually triggered my already irritated and exhausted mind. I too answered him in a loud voice correcting him on how he should talk to victims who are already in trouble and come for help. I was silenced by one of the junior officials who made me realize that I was actually reacting to some important personality. After this bit of heated exchange of words we (I and the official) softened our tones.

While he questioned my husband, the reporter asked me about the robbery details. He told me that FIR would be filed which might help to get our passports but recovery of the lost luggage was not possible.

Several train robbery cases take place every day. Only few fortunate ones get FIR registered and no case ever gets solved.  The worst part is that this is fact is so well accepted in our system.

After some time the superintendent arrived and put the required seal on the FIR copy. One thing that I found really surprising was that the senior officials gave no heed to whatever I said even though valid. Their indifferent response made me realise about my weaker gender. I was made to feel that women words are of least importance. Infact, their involvement in serious matter is uncalled for. Anyways, I gave a damn to their attitude as long as they did their job.

Having done all the legal work we boarded the Vaishali train (sleeper class coach) that took us to our final destination.  Travelling in a sleeper class was similar to travelling in a general class. At least this is what I experienced. But finally after a long, tedious journey we heaved a sigh of relief on reaching our station.