More than a decade ago, bank lockers were the ultimate safety boxes for people to store their most valuable items. But with the increasing techno-heists and lackadaisical security measures provided by banks, these lockers may not be as safe as they once were. Also, the bank does not take any responsibility for your lost items and hence are not liable to compensate you, in case your locker is robbed.
The dramatic heist at the Sonipat branch of Punjab National Bank last month has once again raised the question about whether bank lockers can be trusted with your valuables. Demonstrating astonishing daring, a gang of thieves dug a 77-foot tunnel to get into the main locker vault. The perpetrators cleaned out jewellery and cash worth crores from 89 lockers in the vault.
The police have arrested the culprits and recovered a substantial quantity of the stolen items. But clients who lost their valuables will not get any compensation. According to the Section 152 of the Indian Contract Act, a bank is not responsible for any loss or damage to the contents of a locker. Furthermore, Reserve Bank of India guidelines state that the bank cannot be held liable if the contents of a client’s locker are stolen or destroyed.
“There have been very many cases in the past couple of years, other than heists, there have been accidents like fire breaking out inside the vault or financial papers infested by termites,” Pushpa Girimaji, a consumer activist in Gurgaon told Scroll.in. "But the bank never takes responsibility because the laws are one-sided."
Banks happy not to take responsibility
One common complaint by customers using lockers is about specific items going missing from their safety boxes. According to Girimaji, the banks mostly dismiss these complaints until the customer registers a complaint with the police.
“Other than missing items, a lot of times termites have eaten into financial papers,” Girimaji added. “ I can understand that the bank can not compensate for the trauma that one goes through of refurnishing financial papers. But they can at least ensure that a locker is not termite-infested before assigning it to a customer.”
However, bank officials continue to claim that the financial institution cannot be held responsible for missing items in a locker. “The key to the locker is only with the customer,” said Hari Yadav, former branch manager of Allahabad Bank in Delhi. “ In case the customer loses the key, the lock manufacturing company is called to break the lock and prepare a new key. It is done in front of two witnesses, a senior bank official and one from the customer’s end. Also, the bank has no clue what the customers keep in their locker.”
These are some prominent incidents regarding robberies of bank lockers in recent years.
January 2013: A major robbery took place in Punjab and Sind Bank in Jalandhar. The robbers cleaned out 40 lockers out of the 255 in the vault. The robbers used gas cutters to break the main gate and the iron gate of the strong rooms and the lockers. The official in charge of zonal security of the bank alleged at the time that senior authorities had ignored his suggestion before the heist took place to increase the security of the bank.
November 2011: A mechanic with the locker manufacturing firm that provided its services to the Andhra Bank in Guntur city, Andhra Pradesh was nabbed with gold worth crores stolen from the bank lockers. Though bank officials had initially dismissed the customer’s claims, a police investigation turned up videos revealing the locker mechanic’s modus operandi.
Between 2004 and 2007: A total of 18 locker robbery cases were reported in Delhi, out of which 16 complaints were from customers using the Punjab National Bank in Nauroji Nagar. After investigation, it was revealed that an employee of the bank was helping robbers to tamper with the lockers.
Preventive measures
To safeguard their valuables, customer should regularly get their items evaluated as per the current market price and get the valuation certified, especially jewellery and gold, experts say.
Many customers use bank lockers to store gold that has been passed on to them from previous generations, and do not have receipts of the purchase. A certified valuation of the item would stand in as evidence if their locker is broken into and the bank refuses to reimburse their loss.
In addition, important documents and currency should be kept in an air-tight plastic pouch or bag to avoid damage by termites.
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