Noida Beware! Your smartphone can land you into serious punishment. Know how:
The Gautam Budh Nagar Police has made not having the Aarogya Setu app on one’s phone a punishable offence.
Those living in the district, which includes Noida and Greater Noida, as well as those entering from outside, need to have the app installed on their smartphones, according to an order circulated on the night of May 3 and in force from the following day.
“All those with smartphones who do not have the application can be booked under Section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant). After that, a judicial magistrate will decide if the person will be tried, fined or let off with a warning,” said Akhilesh Kumar, DCP, Law and Order.
The Section can attract a fine of Rs 1,000 or imprisonment up to six months.
“If people download it instantly, we will let them go. We are doing this so people take the order seriously and download it. But if they do not download it after repeated warnings, we will have to take action,” said Kumar.
In case someone does not have mobile data, he said, “we will give them hotspot so they can download it there and then”. And if there are other issues such as lack of phone storage, the officer said they will take the person’s number and call to check whether they have downloaded the app.
Gautam Budh Nagar Police Commissioner Alok Singh said, “Checks will be conducted at borders and checkposts at random.” Police will also check for implementation when they are out on patrol duty.
“If a person does not have a smartphone, they will be asked to get one or fetch it from their homes,” said Singh. “Who does not have a smartphone these days? People may say that they do not have their phones or that their phones are switched off, but we cannot make any exceptions.”