Seizure of 8 mobiles from Ferozepur jail inmates ahead of Assembly poll, exposes security crack
Seizure of 8 mobiles from Ferozepur jail inmates ahead of poll, exposes security crack
Make mobile recovery of prisoner as unbailable offence for questioning, say police
in 2021, 300, in Jan. 2022. 78, in Feb. 2022 19 mobiles
Ferozepur, February 13, 2022: On a tip-off received by jail officials, 8 mobiles were recovered during the search operations carried out in the barracks and one prisoner under trial and gangster prisoners along with unidentified persons have been booked.
Frequent recovery of banned items from inside the jail especially ahead of Assembly elections in Punjab has put a question on the security arrangements at the entry points besides threat on the usage of mobiles. There had been incidents of throwing the packets from outside over the walls also containing the mobiles and other banned items.
There is a need to amend the Prisons Act as the police believe lenient laws to deal with the crime of possessing a mobile phone in prison is a big hurdle in checking the unauthorized practice. Offenders are booked under Section 52-A of the Prisons Act which is a bailable offense. The police want the Act amended to get custody of the accused.
Many a time, the police and the prison authorities claimed to have started an investigation to look into the details of calls made from the seized mobile phones to probe the links between inmates and outsiders, but it remains inconclusive.
Added here, there is no let-up in the recovery of mobile phones from Central Jail. during the month of January 2022, as many as 78 mobiles were recovered, in 37 days, on different dates. While during February, 11 mobiles were recovered earlier and more than 300 mobiles in the last year.
A case under the Prisons Act has been registered on the complaint of Assistant Superintendent Beant Singh and further investigations entrusted to the Inquiry Officer, with a special focus on the usage of mobile phones by the jail inmate. However, according to a jail official, a close watch is being kept on inmates and regular searches are being conducted in barracks as well as prisoner’s cells randomly.
Divulging with details, Assistant Superintendent said, on the basis of inputs, the search operation was carried at block number 2 barrack number 4, from prisoner under trial Amritpal Singh one mobile with SIM card was recovered. During the checking at barrack number 2, chakki number 6, gangster Ravi one SIM card without the name of any company was recovered. Another 7 mobiles and batteries were recovered from different locations in the jail.
