‘Dragged her, forced kiss’: Indian man jailed in Singapore for molesting woman during ‘professional’ meeting
A 46-year-old Indian national was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and six strokes of the cane for molesting a woman inside a nursing room at Changi City Point mall in Singapore. The culprit is a Singapore permanent resident.
Ankit Sharma denied the charges, claiming the victim consented and suggested going to the nursing room.(Representational Image/ Unsplash)
The accused, identified as Ankit Sharma, is convicted on one charge of aggravated outrage of modesty for molesting a 31-year-old woman.
Ankit Sharma is accused of dragging a female technology specialist recruiter into a nursing room at Changi City Point mall on March 1, 2023, where he molested the woman, Channel News Asia reported.
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Sharma is convicted of aggravated outrage of modesty for forcibly kissing and making unwanted sexual advances towards the victim.
Man met the victim for a professional meeting
The victim met Ankit Sharma for the first time that evening after a colleague shared his profile with her. The meeting was initially a professional engagement, but it soon became awkward when Sharma made sexual advances over drinks, the court was told.
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When the woman stepped out to the washroom and subsequently returned, Sharma hung around and dragged her into a neighbouring nursing room, where he forced a kiss upon her, held her back, and made concerted sex overtures despite her protests, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim.
Man claims woman ‘gave consent’
Sharma denied the charges, claiming the victim consented and suggested going to the nursing room.
He claimed that the woman had consented and suggested going to the nursing room. His defence argued that she voluntarily engaged with him, but got upset after he remarked on her bad breath.
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Rejecting the defence, the court found Sharma guilty, with the prosecution describing the sexual exploitation as “extremely high” and the intrusion “intense and prolonged”.
Sharma faced between two and 10 years of imprisonment and caning for the offence. His lawyer sought a lighter sentence of three to three-and-a-half years with fewer cane strokes, but the court accepted the prosecution’s call for at least four years and six strokes.
