An Indian international student has been sentenced to three weeks’ jail in Singapore for molesting a stewardess on a flight out of Perth.
Rajat, a 20-year-old who only goes by a single name, faced court last month after pleading guilty to one charge of “using criminal force with the intent to outrage modesty”, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of three years’ jail, a fine, caning, or a combination of the punishments.
A Singaporean court heard the Indian national was enrolled at an Australian university when he boarded a Singapore Airlines flight on February 28, The Straits Times reported.
During the flight, at 11.20am, Rajat’s victim was cleaning one of the plane restrooms, and when she bent over to pick up a piece of toilet paper Rajat “approached her and placed both his hands on her hips, near her buttocks”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lau said.
“He then pushed his way into the toilet, causing the victim to enter the toilet as well.”
The court heard that a female passenger saw what Rajat was doing and pulled the stewardess out of the toilet, but Rajat then asked to speak to her privately after she had gone to the back of the plane to avoid him and compose herself.
He was then arrested on arrival at Changi International Airport.
DPP Lau asked the judge to impose a jail term of three to six weeks, and said Rajat’s actions had left his victim disgusted, humiliated and fearful, resulting in her suffering psychological harm.
“Commercial air travel is a high-pressure environment involving close physical proximity, and it is harder to detect undesired physical contact,” DPP Lau said.
“In addition, there is no ready means of escape for the victim… (and) no way to obtain law enforcement mid-flight.”
But Rajat’s defence lawyer Ranjit Singh argued his client should only be punished with a fine, or if the judge was unsatisfied with that, with a one-week jail sentence, citing Rajat’s good conduct at school and clean criminal record.
Header image credit: Windmemories – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link.
