Court staff get jail for stealing mobile phones

Tirupur: A local court on Monday sentenced two of its former office assistants, one of them a woman, to two years imprisonment for stealing 31 mobile phones, which were in the court custody.
The convicts were identified as Geetha and Sathish Kumar, who were earlier working as office assistants with the Dharapuram judicial magistrate court in the district.

A court source said it was usual for police personnel to hand over seized articles, including mobile phones, from the accused to the court custody during the trial. “In 2015, then head clerk of the court Aasiya Begum found that 31mobile phones that were in court custody were missing. During inquiry, she found that Geetha and Sathish had stolen them,” the source said.

Following this, Begum lodged a complaint with the Dharapuram police, who booked Geetha and Sathish for stealing the articles on court custody on August 23, 2015. The two were subsequently placed under suspension.

The case was tried before the Dharapuram judicial magistrate court and when it came up for hearing on Monday, judge C Sasikumar sentenced the duo to two years imprisonment. The judge also imposed on them a fine of 2,000 each.

The court also recommended departmental action against Aasiya Begum, who is presently working with the Dharapuram additional sessions court III, for dereliction of duty.