Indian-origin jailed for hurting pregnant girlfriend in Singapore
Singapore: A 24-year-old Indian-origin man in Singapore has been sentenced to ten weeks in jail for his penchant for violence, having no control over his rage and hurting his pregnant girlfriend.
Mohamed Mustaffa Ali was sentenced on Wednesday by the Singapore District Court Judge Mathew Joseph after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault - one was a road rage case last year and the other for hurting his pregnant girlfriend in 2017.
The judge also ticked off Mustaffa for his penchant for violence and having no control over his rage, reported The New Paper on Thursday.
The judge sentenced Mustaffa to 10 weeks' jail, the report said.
In the early hours of June 11 2017, Mustaffa had quarrelled with his girlfriend Shahiqah Nadiyeh Mohammad Herman, then 21, over her former boyfriend.
The agitated Mustaffa slapped her face three times and kicked her thigh twice, despite knowing she was four months pregnant with his child, the report added.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong told the court that Mustaffa had also pulled her off a mattress she was sitting on in a cousin house.
"The accused then dragged the victim out of the room and into the corridor... by her legs," Ng said.
His cousin then called the police. When the police arrived, Shahiqah refused to have a medical examination but told them she had bruises from Mustaffa's assault.
She later gave birth to a healthy boy and married Mustaffa last December.
In another incident, in March last year, Mustaffa was driving a rented car on the extreme right lane of the Kranji Expressway at about 9pm when he flashed the high beam at a car travelling in front of him at 60 to 70km/h.
The car moved to the middle lane, but when the vehicles were side by side, both drivers wound down their windows to exchange vulgarities and rude gestures.
They then stopped their cars at the road shoulder and got out to confront each other.
When Mustaffa raised his hands, the other man, Lum Wai Keong, 49, punched him in the face.
Mustaffa returned to his car to grab a wooden stick about the length of two arms and hit Lum with it repeatedly until it broke.
Lum, who suffered abrasions on his knee and forearms, has been charged in court with assaulting Mustaffa. His case is pending.
Mustaffa told the court that he had hit Shahiqah after losing control of himself because of stress from his recent divorce.
"I find your actions quite disgusting and despicable," the Judge told the accused.
"You used violence once before and you did it again. You think our Singapore roads are some kind of lawless place? I have no sympathy for your actions."
He told Mustaffa that marrying the woman he hurt did not reduce his culpability. "Even though she is your wife now, that does not in any way diminish your responsibility."
He then sentenced Mustaffa to six weeks' jail for voluntarily causing hurt in the road rage case and four weeks' jail for hurting Shahiqah.
Another charge for committing a rash act by pulling her off the bed was taken into consideration during sentencing.
For each count of voluntarily causing hurt, Mustaffa could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined up to SGD5,000, or both.
For committing a rash act, he could have been jailed for up to a year, or fined up to SGD5,000, or both.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Don't trust anybody before marriage': SC advises caution in pre-marital physical relationship
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said a boy and a girl before marriage are "total strangers" and they should be cautious while indulging in pre-marital physical relationships.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage, questioned the woman why she travelled all the way to Dubai where they indulged in physical relationship.
"It's consensual. We may be old-fashioned but a boy and girl before marriage are total strangers. They should be circumspect in indulging in physical relationships before marriage," the bench observed.
"Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship, we fail to understand how they can be indulging in physical relationship before marriage. Maybe we are old- fashioned but you must be very careful, nobody should believe anybody before marriage," Justice Nagarathna said.
ALSO READ: B'luru Police register FIR against developer, bank official in ₹130 crore housing fraud case
Counsel for the woman said they met on a matrimonial website in 2022 and he allegedly established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai.
Justice Nagarathna questioned the woman about what was the need for her to travel to Dubai and observed that it appears to be a case of consensual relationship.
"She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it. We will send them to mediation. These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is consensual relationship," she said.
Justice Nagarathna asked the counsel for the man to pay some compensation to her and be done with it.
The bench also asked the woman’s counsel to explore the possibility of settlement and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday to see the views of both the parties. The woman has claimed in her complaint that on his insistence, she travelled to Dubai where he allegedly established physical relations with her on false pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted.
The woman said that later she learnt that he had married a second woman in January, 2024 in Punjab.
The Delhi High Court and the trial court had dismissed the bail application of the man.
The high court rejected bail, saying the allegations prima facie indicate that the promise of marriage was false from inception, particularly as the petitioner was already married and had married again on January 19, 2024.
Aggrieved by the high court's order, the man approached the top court for bail in the case.
