Amritsar: Now, FIR against SIM owners of mobiles seized from jails

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, April 18

The SIM of mobile phones being confiscated from the jail premises will be scrutinised to nab the person who facilitate the equipment to their known inmates, said Punjab Jails Minister Harjot Singh Bains, while talking to the mediapersons here on Monday.

Bains who also holds the portfolio of Tourism and Culture was here to participate in the programme at the Partition Museum and visit heritage sites in the holy city.

We have promised to make jails mobile free within six months and we are working on it. Currently, a sanitisation drive is on in jails. We will share the data with the media regarding the seizures of mobile phones and other materials from jail after 15 days. —Harjot Singh Bains, Punjab Jails Minister

“We have promised to make jails mobile free within six months and we are working on it. Currently, a sanitisation drive is on in jails,” he said. He said we will share the data with the media regarding the seizures of mobile phones and other materials from jail after 15 days.

To end the menace, he said appropriate action would be taken against the black sheep, who are colluding with criminals for sneaking drugs and mobiles inside jail. We have registered an FIR against a former superintendent of a Central Jail.

He also pointed out that previous governments did nothing to end the menace.

There has been no let-up in the seizure of mobile phones from the ‘high-security’ Central Jails. The previous governments had planned to install mobile signal jammers to stem the problem. The work had started at Patiala Central jail as pilot project and work was likely to start to install jammers in Amritsar soon, former home minister Sukhjinder Randhawa had said. Nevertheless, the project at Amritsar Central Jail was yet to see the light of day.

“The major reason behind unabated sneaking of mobiles and other prohibited material inside the jail was lackadaisical approach of the Police Department in investigating the previous cases of seizure of cell phones from prisoners in the past,” said Punjab Human rights Organisation activist, advocate Sarabjit Singh Verka.