“Detained at [a] police station most of yesterday til 2 AM. Out on bail (!!!!),” Tina Lewis messaged to me on December 6, 2024. “I’m too f$%&ing drained to elucidate proper now,” she mentioned, however she saved going.
I didn’t know what she was accused of and was somewhat anxious. She confirmed that she was okay.
“That is surreal,” the messages and anger saved coming, that day and the following a number of.
In early December 2024, path runner Tina Lewis was arrested in Goa, India, for carrying a satellite tv for pc GPS machine with out permission. Right here, she’s pictured earlier in her go to to India on the Taj Mahal. All photographs courtesy of Tina Lewis.
It took six days for Lewis to get her passport again. Her violation? Possessing a satellite tv for pc GPS machine with out permission from Indian authorities.
A Canadian citizen, Lewis, aged 51, lives in Colorado and was the 2012 Leadville 100 Mile winner. An skilled adventurer, she’d been touring alone via India for 2 months, and documenting her journey on social media.
At first she visited the Taj Mahal, proclaiming it with “the second I’ve dreamed of for years! One other 7 Wonders of the World added to my checklist!” She then received off the overwhelmed path and into the mountains of Northern India and later posts have been constructive too. “Feeling like a princess on the opulent Metropolis Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan,” she smiled on one submit.
Then she went to Goa, a coastal state in Western India. All the pieces was nice there too. She loved the seashores, reggae vibes, and Portuguese influences. However whereas touring between the cities of Goa and Kochi, she was detained at Goa Dabolim Worldwide Airport.
Lewis had a Garmin inReach Mini in her carry-on baggage.
The incident made the native information.
And a submit on the native information channel’s social media obtained over 2,000 likes. The feedback have been largely in help of Lewis.
Garmin describes its product as “your go-to connection for sustaining off-the-grid contact. It’s our palm-sized satellite tv for pc communicator for adventures the place dimension and weight matter. Want help? Ship interactive SOS alerts anytime, globally. Irrespective of the place you’re, two-way messaging enables you to hook up with those who matter.”
Lewis defined, “I had the Garmin for tenting and trekking solo. And to make use of when no reception to verify in with household to allow them to know I’m secure. As a solo feminine traveler, I believe it’s sensible.”
However the security machine landed Lewis in hassle. Satellite tv for pc telephones are unlawful in India, banned as a part of the Indian Wi-fi Telegraphy Act, 1933, and the Garmin inReach Mini and different comparable units are generally mistaken for satellite tv for pc telephones.
Tina Lewis mentioned her arrest, detainment, bail, court docket, lawyer’s charges, and fines in Goa, India, have been intensive.
Whether or not for safety issues, together with issues that they are often tracked by navy authorities, or the potential to intervene with authorities telecommunications, satellite tv for pc telephones are banned in different international locations too, like China, Cuba, and North Korea. Iridium satellite tv for pc telephones particularly are usually not permitted in India and might land unwitting vacationers in hassle.
Lewis isn’t the one one to be unaware of the regulation. Arrests look like a near-daily prevalence. A December 9, 2024 article shared {that a} Czech nationwide was arrested at an airport for carrying a Garmin Edge 540 GPS. And on December 10, 2024, it was an American citizen with an precise satellite tv for pc cellphone.
Lewis didn’t contain the Canadian embassy, for worry that it could gradual the method, and he or she didn’t really go to jail. She benefited from a neighborhood connection that rushed a lawyer to her support, along with the police-appointed lawyer.
“I used to be detained on the police station, being questioned and actually about to go the hospital for a medical examination earlier than jail when my pal’s lawyer confirmed up,” she defined. “However I spent a number of full days in court docket.”
She says she spent hundreds in court docket fines and lawyer charges, and naturally forfeited the Garmin machine.
Having simply gotten again her passport, Lewis mirrored, “I’ve taken just a few days to course of and I don’t need this ruining my journey.” However the six-day occasion left Lewis frightened, discouraged, and feeling violated. It’s a foul spot in an in any other case nice journey and a real appreciation for India.
“This outdated regulation must be challenged at [a] increased court docket so different vacationers don’t expertise what I, and others, have,” Lewis shared on social media.
This case additionally begs the query on what is going to occur as extra smartphones have satellite tv for pc expertise included in them, making it much more ubiquitous amongst locals and vacationers.
Within the meantime, maybe an upside to Lewis’s scenario will be schooling for these of us who’re taking our operating adventures to new-to-us areas the place the usage of superior communication instruments like these are usually not but authorized. The perfect present recommendation is to verify your own home authorities’s web site for info and advisories on touring to your particular vacation spot.
We’re wishing Lewis secure travels forward.
Tina Lewis says she spent days in court docket and paid hundreds in fines and lawyer charges following her arrest in Goa, India, in December 2024.
