On September 22, 2025, Ankit Sharma, a 46-year-old Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, 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, Singapore.
The victim, a 31-year-old technology specialist recruiter, was forcibly kissed, restrained, and sexually assaulted despite her protests during a meeting on March 1, 2023, Channel News Asia reported. Sharma denied the charges, claiming consent, but the court dismissed this defence and convicted him of aggravated outrage of modesty.
The sentence reflects Singapore’s stringent laws against sexual crimes and emphasis on public safety and victim dignity.
Incident Overview and Court Findings
The incident began on the evening of March 1, 2023, when Sharma met the victim for the first time after a professional introduction by a colleague. Initially, the meeting was work-related and took place over drinks in a bar near the mall. However, Sharma’s behaviour soon changed as he steered conversations toward sexual topics, asking intrusive and inappropriate questions about the victim’s personal and sexual life, causing her discomfort.
When the woman excused herself to use the washroom and returned, Sharma waited and then forcibly dragged her into a nursing room adjacent to the bar. Inside, he forcefully kissed her, held her back, and made repeated sexual advances despite her repeated refusals and physical resistance. The court noted the sexual exploitation was “extremely high” and the intrusion “intense and prolonged,” highlighting Sharma’s blatant violation of the victim’s dignity and autonomy.
Sharma’s defence argued that the victim had consented to the encounter and suggested moving to the nursing room. He claimed the relationship was consensual until he offended her by commenting on her bad breath, which led to her withdrawal. However, the court rejected this defence, emphasizing that coercion and physical restraint negated any claim of consent.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim described Sharma’s actions as intentional and predatory, underscoring the grave nature of aggravated outrage of modesty under Singaporean law. Given the severity and impact on the victim, Sharma faced a sentencing range of two to ten years in prison along with caning, a punishment reflecting Singapore’s zero tolerance for sexual offences.
Legal and Social Context
In Singapore, aggravated outrage of modesty is a serious offence that attracts severe penalties, including caning, imprisonment, or both, to serve as a deterrent and reaffirm the state’s commitment to public safety. The law seeks to protect individuals, especially women, from violations of personal dignity in all public and private spaces.
Singapore’s legal framework places great emphasis on the physical and psychological well-being of survivors, and the judiciary consistently delivers firm sentences against perpetrators to uphold societal order. This case contributes to growing awareness of respecting personal boundaries and promoting safer environments in social and professional settings.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
While the court’s stringent sentencing reflects the necessity to punish sexual misconduct decisively, it also evokes a wider conversation about the systemic changes needed to prevent such incidents. Beyond legal repercussions, society must invest in comprehensive education on consent, mutual respect, and gender sensitivity from an early age.
Workplaces and public venues must implement stronger safeguards and raise awareness to create environments where harassment is unequivocally unacceptable. The victim’s courage to report the crime and the judiciary’s firm action deserve recognition as steps toward justice.
