Rohit Kumar, an Indian national who was working as an engineer in Singapore, was sentenced today to nine months’ jail for outraging the modesty of a 12-year-old girl on 19 October 2015. He inappropriately touched the girl a total of five times while on a ride at Universal Studios Singapore (USS).
The Court heard that the incident happened when the girl had gone to USS with a group of friends and decided to take the ‘Mommy Ride”. Rohit sat on the same row as the girl on the ride and touched the girl’s outer right thigh. He began stroking it and persisted in molesting her throughout the ride.
The girl who at first thought it was an accident complained to her friends afterwards, and together they then reported the incident to a USS staff member. A police report was also made on the same day.
Rohit’s lawyer pleading for leniency said that there was no skin-to-skin contact and most of the touches had occurred away from the private parts. The District Judge, Jasvender Kaur, agreed with the lawyer that “no prolonged or direct contact” was made with the girl and decided against caning.
She also chided Rohit saying, “she was just a poor young girl who went on a ride to enjoy herself, but ended up being violated.”
Rohit is married and has a new-born daughter in India. He told the Court that he would like to go back to India as soon as possible to see his child. Rohit could have been jailed up to five years and given 12 strokes of the cane for the offence of outrage of modesty.