Indian Man Sentenced to 6 Months in Singapore for Molesting Woman on Flight

An Indian man has been sentenced to six months jail for sexually assaulting a woman on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight. He molested her while she was asleep.

23-year old Ravichandran Vignesh, a pet shop owner in India, pleaded guilty on Oct.18 of the charges against him. In court documents, he said that he did so, as he was “drunk, high and tempted” for it, reported Yahoo news.

According to the report, the incident took place on Oct.1 in a Singapore Airlines flight which took off from Bengaluru to Bali. Singapore was a transit stop for the flight. Vignesh pressed woman’s breast while she was sleeping on the seat next to him. Around 4 am, the woman felt some sensation and woke up to see the man’s hand on her breast.

When she shouted at him, he took his hand off and started pretending to be asleep. The woman asked the crew members to change her seat and was shifted to some other seat for the rest of the journey.

According to a report in Inquirer.net, after landing in Singapore, the victim reported the incident through the airline’s online feedback form and sent a copy to deputy commander of Airport Police Division as well. It was filed as a police complaint next day.

By then Vignesh had proceeded to Bali for vacations, said theonlinecitizen.com

The Singapore police succeeded in tracing and arresting him at Singapore Airport as his India bound flight took a transit stop on Oct.4, it added.

As per the court documents, after admitting this sexually offending action in flight, he said that he belongs to a poor family and was taking a flight very first time in his life.

Yahoo News quoted Ravichandran as saying through an interpreter “I do not know the laws of Singapore. I have not done this back home in India before.”

“I will not touch any woman again. I will not travel overseas again. I will not come back to Singapore again,” he added. He also pleaded to return to India and promised not to reoffend.

He also vowed that he will never come back to Singapore again, said The Independent.