A 42-year-old Indian-origin singer named Sivabalan Siva Prasad Menon was fined 3,000 Singaporean dollars for molesting a female freelance production crew member under the influence of alcohol after a show at the Mediacorp Campus in Singapore, reported news agency PTI.
According to The Straits Times, two other charges, including a molestation charge, were considered while sentencing the Indian-origin accused. Menon had reportedly consumed around 15 cups of whisky, after which he molested the female crew member in 2022, reported PTI.
The victim cannot be named due to a gag order, and the details about the show were not disclosed in court documents as well. In addition to this, the exact date when the crime took place was not disclosed in the report to protect the woman's identity.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo said during the court hearing that Menon had consumed around 15 cups of whisky and became intoxicated on the day the crime happened. The show ended at 12:20 am, after which the victim waited for a lift in basement 1 of the Mediacorp Campus along with her male friend.
"The lift doors opened and the accused walked out of the lift. When he saw the victim, he walked towards her, grabbed her by the jaw and kissed her once on her right cheek… as the victim tried to pull away," PTI quoted the law officer as saying.
The victim immediately told Sivabalan Menon that she did not like how he treated her, following which her male friend, who had accompanied her to the lift, stood between them and told the accused to leave, PTI reported.
Subsequently, the victim and her friend walked away from that place before calling in the next lift. The duo noticed that the accused reeked of alcohol and left the vicinity soon after the incident.
Deputy Teo also disclosed that after the incident, the victim went to a room for production crew members, where she cried and hyperventilated as she was stressed by the molestation. She alerted the police about it later that day.
According to Singapore's law, an offender can be fined, caned, jailed for up to three years, or receive a combination of these punishments for molestation.