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Parliament: Maximum jail term for making voyeuristic recording increased to 2 years

The distribution of voyeuristic images and recording could attract up to five years' jail along with a fine and caning. (Getty Images file photo)
The distribution of voyeuristic images and recording could attract up to five years' jail along with a fine and caning. (Getty Images file photo)

SINGAPORE — Perpetrators of voyeuristic offences face stiffer punishments under new changes to the law.

For instance, a person who takes an upskirt photo or video faces a possible sentence of up to two years’ jail, along with a fine and caning. Previously, perpetrators of such recordings face up to one year’s jail and a fine for insulting the modesty of a person.

Those who distribute such images and recordings face up to five years’ jail, along with a fine and caning.

Speaking during the second reading of the Criminal Law Reform Act 2019 on Monday (6 May), Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam acknowledged the recent spotlight on voyeurism due to the case involving Nicholas Lim, a student at the National University of Singapore. Lim was caught taking a video of NUS undergraduate Monica Baey showering in a hostel toilet in November last year.

But the proposals were mooted and the drafting of the Bill happened well before the NUS incident became public, Shanmugam pointed out.

The first reading of the Bill took place in Parliament in February. The NUS incident came into public attention in April when Baey made several Instagram posts to highlight her ordeal and the punishments meted to Lim.

“The current laws, in my view, do not adequately address the range of offences, including voyeuristic recordings and the distribution of such material on the Internet,” Shanmugam said.

“There is I think a clear need to deter the proliferation of voyeuristic recordings,” he added.

‘Revenge porn’

With the passing of the law, modifying any part of a building structure to install equipment to facilitate voyeuristic recordings is a crime.

The law also criminalises the dissemination or threat to disseminate intimate images, or what is colloquially known as “revenge porn”.

The maximum penalty is up to five years’ jail along with a fine and caning.

Possessing or gaining access to voyeuristic or intimate images and recordings is also a crime. The penalty is up to two years’ jail along with a fine.

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