Photo: Parliament House in Singapore; AFP / Roslan Rahman
Today, Singapore Law Minister K. Shanmugam introduced the Protection from Harassment Bill, aimed at assisting victims of harassment and other anti-social behaviour through a series of criminal sanctions, civil remedies and self-help measures.
Under the new Bill, harassment in its various forms including cyber bullying, bullying of children and stalking, will be considered an offence. Stalking as an offence will involve behaviour related to stalking or that which causes harassment, alarm or distress.
Existing protection for public servants will be extended to workers who deliver essential services to the general public, including public healthcare and transport workers.
The Bill also poses harsher penalties for harassment offences — enhanced penalties will be delivered to repeat offenders.
Those living outside of Singapore will not be spared, either — anyone overseas who commits any act of stalking against a victim in Singapore or a victim he or she knows is in Singapore at the time the acts were committed, will suffer the imposed penalties.
Victims of harassment may apply to the Court for Protection Orders (PO) against offenders under the new Bill. Urgent cases may be granted an Expedited Protection Order (EPO). In certain cases, offenders may even be issued a Protection Order requiring that they or a third party such as a website or social media platform, remove the offending material that caused harrassment. Breaches of the PO and EPO may lead to offence.
The new Bill also allows the Court to issue notification to readers of false facts, as long as the victim can prove the inaccuracy of these facts.
