Four mobile phones seized from Faridkot Central Jail

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, December 27

The Faridkot Central Jail authorities on Friday claimed to have recovered four mobile phones from jail inmates. One of these inmates is a woman.

The woman, belonging to Daulewala village of Moga, is lodged in the jail for her alleged involvement in drug smuggling. The village is infamous for a high number of drug smugglers.

The authorized recovered two mobile phones form Saraj Singh of Daulewala of Moga, another accused in drug smuggling case, and one mobile phone from Rakesh Singh of Abhupura village in Ludhiana district.

On receipt of a complaint from the jail authorities, the Faridkot police have registered a case under Sections 42 and 52A of the Prisons Act against the three jail inmates.

In the past two years, over 80 phones have been recovered from the Faridkot Central Jail, presenting a dark and shocking picture of the jail. It is believed that many gangsters and criminals lodged in the Faridkot jail use mobile phones for “commissioning murders, planning escapes and arranging drugs”.

After an amendment in the Prisons Act, 1894, in September 2016, a prisoner or inmate found guilty of possessing, operating a mobile phone or their component parts such as SIM card, memory card, battery or charger can be punished for a term not exceeding one year.

This ‘mild’ fails to deter inmates, said a senior functionary in the jail. “Inmates don’t fear of getting detected. They think if they get caught or prosecuted, they will get a concurrent sentence,” said the officer.