Kashmir: Hidden mobile phone in trial room, shop owner arrested

The phone, meant for secretly recording customers while changing clothes, was found by a minor girl after which the case was registered

The Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested an apparel seller under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IT Act after a hidden mobile phone was found in the trial room of his outlet in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said on Friday.

The phone, meant for secretly recording customers while changing clothes, was found by a minor girl after which the case was registered.

They said the phone, meant for secretly recording customers while changing clothes, was found by a minor girl after which the case was registered.

A police spokesman said the accused, Aijaz Ahmad Sofi of Bandi Payeen Chandoosa, was arrested for voyeurism by the police.

The spokesperson said Sofi was arrested following a complaint registered by a minor girl accompanied by her sister.

“She stated that on April 26, she went to a shop and selected some clothes. When she went to the changing room for trial, she found a hidden mobile phone which was kept there for secretly recording the customers’ videos while changing clothes,” the spokesperson said.

The police said it acted promptly upon the complaint and an FIR under various sections of the IPC, IT Act and POCSO Act was registered and investigation taken up.

“During the course of investigation, a team headed by an SHO was constituted and the accused, who is the owner of the shop, was taken into custody immediately,” the spokesperson said.

Mobile devices of the accused have also been seized. “Community members are requested to be careful while using trail rooms,” he said.