Malaysian Indian sentenced to jail and caning for raping Indonesian woman in Singapore
Singapore (PTI): An Indian-origin Malaysian man was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after tricking her into thinking that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of a subway, Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at about 8pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before he sexually assaulted her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from Women’s and Children’s Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty’s extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
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Karnataka PUC II exams from Feb 28; over 7.1 lakh students to appear
Bengaluru: The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) will commence the Pre-University Course (PUC) II examinations from February 28. The first exams will be Kannada and Arabic papers.
The Class 12 examinations will continue till March 17. These exams will be conducted at 1,217 centres across the state. A total of 7,10,363 students from 5,174 PU colleges have registered for the examinations this year and of them, 2,92,645 students are from the science stream, 2,11,174 from commerce and 1,42,982 from arts.
The board has reduced the minimum qualifying marks for PU II from 35 per cent to 30 per cent, as reported by The Indian Express. Authorities reaffirmed that strict guidelines to ensure smooth conduct of the examinations amid concerns over fake question papers being circulated on social media. KSEAB president Prakash Nittali said the question paper currently circulating online is fake and added that a complaint will be lodged with the cyber police.
The School Education and Literacy Department has announced that social media platforms will be closely monitored during both the PU and SSLC examinations to prevent misinformation and malpractice.
To facilitate students, the state government has arranged free bus travel in KSRTC and BMTC buses for those appearing for Class 10 and Class 12 examinations upon production of hall tickets. Similar arrangements will be made in private buses operating in the coastal and Malnad regions.
The Karnataka SSLC examinations are scheduled to begin on March 18 starting with the first language paper. A total of 9,02,889 students are expected to appear for the SSLC exams this year, with 8,12,855 fresh candidates, 62,845 repeaters and 27,189 private candidates.
