Singapore—On Thursday, November 28, a district court heard that a lecturer was alleged to have taken upskirt videos of a woman at a post-secondary institution where he worked.
He now faces one count of insulting a woman’s modesty.
The accused is a 39-year-old male who remains anonymous for legal reasons in order to protect the identity of the woman he took photos of.
Whether the victim is a fellow staff member of the post-secondary institution or one of his students is not indicated in the court documents.
The offence is said to have occurred at around noon on March 6, where the lecturer made use of his mobile phone in order to take upskirt videos of her. This allegedly happened in a classroom of the educational institution he was previously employed with, but where he no longer works, according to a report from The Straits Times (ST).
The accused was offered bail of S$2,000 and is scheduled to appear in court again on December 26. If he is found guilty of insulting the woman’s modesty, he could be made to pay a fine, or be given a jail sentence of up to one year.
Men who have been accused of taking upskirt videos have made the news several times this year, with cases of individuals getting caught taking these videos on the train and in MRT stations, in particular.
Last month, four men from the group on the messaging app Telegram called SG Nasi Lemak were arrested after months-long investigations from the police for having shared upskirt videos and other pornographic content, with the youngest among those arrested only 17 years old. The electrical gadgets of the four men were seized by the police.
At one point, the SG Nasi Lemak chat group had over 44,000 members, each of whom had to pay a S$30 entrance fee. The group was shut down last month.
In November 2018, Non-Constituency MP Daniel Goh Pei Siong asked in Parliament if the sale and usage of hidden or spy cameras should be regulated, in the context of a surge in “upskirt” and peeping tom crimes, as well as the violation of privacy, that have been easier than ever due to technological advancements.
K. Shanmugam, the Minister for Home Affairs and Law, said in a written reply to Goh’s question that while crimes of this nature are taken seriously, banning these cameras would be “unworkable.”
“It is quite unworkable to try and deal with the problem by banning spy cameras and hidden cameras. Mobile phones also come with cameras, and they can also be concealed to take secret photos or videos,” Shanmugam wrote.
However, he added that the government would do following: “We will increase the penalties and add new offences to try and deter the commission of such acts,” his reply continued. Guilty parties could face a jail sentence of up to two years, a fine, or both penalties, as well as caning. Under the present Penal Code, guilty parties only face up to one year of imprisonment, a fine, or both.
Channel News Asia reported that for every year since 2013, an average of one hundred crimes of taking upskirt photos has been reported to the police, as well as an average of 500 cases of insult of modesty for every year beginning from 2015. -/TISG
Read related: K Shanmugam says banning spy and hidden cameras to prevent upskirt crimes is ‘unworkable,’ promises stiffer penalties instead
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