A Canadian path runner was detained on Dec. 6 at Dabolim Worldwide Airport in Goa, India, for travelling with a satellite tv for pc GPS machine. Tina Lewis of Montreal was discovered with a Garmin inReach Mini, a tool usually mistaken for a satellite tv for pc telephone, which is against the law in India.
In accordance with the path working web site IRunFar, it took Lewis six days and hundreds of Canadian {dollars} to get her passport again, after having it confiscated; Lewis was travelling between Goa and Kochi when she was detained throughout a routine baggage examine. India’s Central Industrial Safety Drive (CISF) detected the Garmin inReach Mini in her carry-on throughout a routine scan. Since she didn’t have permission from authorities to hold the machine, safety personnel seized it and handed her over to the native police.
Tina Lewis was arrested in India for touring with a GPS machine. Possession of a satellite tv for pc telephone is against the law there, and GPS units are sometimes confused for them.
We want Tina the perfect. https://t.co/BgmJCJMAL8
— iRunFar (@iRunFar) December 16, 2024
The 51-year-old, who gained the Leadville 100 miler in 2012, had been solo travelling for 2 months, and was enroute to Goa, a coastal state in western India, to expertise its well-known seashores.
The Garmin inReach Mini machine in her carry-on bag was mistaken for a satellite tv for pc transmitter, which is against the law in India below Part 6 (1A) of the Indian Wi-fi Telegraphy Act 1933 and Part 20 of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885. These sections cope with the unauthorized possession and operation of wi-fi transmitters and telegraphs, and are punishable by as much as three years imprisonment, a superb, or typically each.
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A Garmin inReach is a distant satellite tv for pc communicator designed for excessive out of doors adventurers. The machine permits them to ship and obtain messages by way of the Iridium satellite tv for pc community in distant areas with out cell protection. Lewis advised IRunFar she had the machine for security whereas tenting and trekking solo, enabling her to examine in with household occasionally. To keep away from delays, Lewis selected to not contain the Canadian embassy; she relied on a good friend who discovered her a lawyer to help her.
“I used to be detained on the police station, being questioned and actually about to go to the hospital for a medical examination earlier than jail when my good friend’s lawyer confirmed up,” she mentioned. Lewis spent a number of days in Indian courtroom preventing the costs.
Lewis wrote concerning the expertise on her social media, calling for a change to the outdated legal guidelines. Worldwide vacationers are reportedly detained ceaselessly in India for carrying satellite tv for pc units. A Czech bicycle owner was detained three days later on the similar airport for carrying a Garmin Edge 540 GPS bike pc.
