A woman was assaulted while out on a brisk walk as a man harassed her for having her mask down before kicking her in the chest.

The story was shared on Instagram by the woman’s daughter, Parveen Kaur, and reposted on Wake Up, Singapore’s Instagram feed on Sunday (9 May) evening.

In the account, Ms Kaur started with a disclaimer: “To anyone who says racism doesn’t exist in Singapore and we should be thankful we aren’t in countries where minorities are in physical danger, read this.”

She then described how her mother, 55-year-old private tutor Hindocha Nita Vishnubhai, works near her home and takes brisk walks to work as a daily exercise. As she is brisk walking, Madam Nita had her mask down, as it need not be donned for such an activity.

However, during one of the walks to work, Ms Kaur said a man had come up to her mother and started harassing her to put her mask on.

Ms Kaur relayed, “She explained she was brisk walking but he didn’t care. He hurled vulgarities and racial slurs at her.”

“My mum responded with a “God bless you” and the guy kicked her in the chest.”

Ms Kaur said her mum fell and landed on her back, hurting herself further. The man ran away after the incident and left the older woman “shaking in tears”.

Ms Kaur noted that her mother was too shocked to call the police at the time and turned up to work, “bleeding and shaken.”

She lamented, “Now my mum is afraid of taking a walk in her own country.”

“I can’t comprehend the hatred it would have taken to attack a complete stranger,” she added, cursing anyone who “downplays racism” in Singapore.

“All it takes is a trigger, be it anti-CECA sentiments or blaming a country in crisis for local COVID outbreaks, for silent racism to manifest into violence,” she concluded.

The incident happened as Mdm Nita was walking from Choa Chu Kang MRT station towards the stadium around 8.30 am on Friday (7 April). The Straits Times (ST) reported Mdm Nita’s account of the incident where she said, “He shouted at me to put my mask above my nose. I patiently told him that I was exercising which is why I had the mask below my nose.”

“He then started to abuse me and even used a racial slur, I was absolutely shocked. I do not like confrontation and I wanted to avoid an argument with him, so I said ‘God bless you’ and decided to walk away,” she added.

He then ran towards her and did a “flying kick”, she said.

“It was a very forceful kick which caused me to fall to the ground. I kept saying ‘he kicked me, he kicked me’. I was in complete disbelief,” said the victim, who weighs about 60kg and is 1.6m tall, according to the ST report.

The man then ran away after she fell, sustaining scratches on her hands and arms.

A bystander who saw what happened from a nearby bus stand rush to Mdm Nita’s aid.

In the caption of the Wake Up, Singapore post at 9.05 pm, it was noted that the victim has filed a police report and was told to file a Magistrate’s Complaint.

It included an unattributed quote: “Yes she did eventually make a police report on the night of the attack but their hands were tied, they can’t investigate the case without a magistrates complaint.

“She’s gonna get assessed by a doctor as the first step for the magistrates complaint.”

About an hour after the post was up on Wake Up, Singapore’s Instagram feed, social activist Ariffin Sha shared on Facebook that “it is concerning that the victim was allegedly informed by the Police to file a Magistrate’s Complaint when she filed her police report.”

He added, “Surely the Police can exercise their discretion to commence investigations without the need for a Magistrate’s Complaint? Especially so in a case where the victim is a 55-year old mother who was the victim of a vile and racist assault on the eve of Mother’s Day.”

Mr Ariffin stressed his belief that there should be more clarity from the police as to why the victim was instructed to file a Magistrate’s Complaint and what guides police discretion to not commence an investigation but ask a victim to file a Magistrate’s Complaint first.

TOC has reached out to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Singapore Police Force yesterday for comments on the police’s position.

The Straits Times has reported that the police is investigating the man involved, believed to be in his 20s, for voluntarily causing hurt and harassment.

Subscribe
Notify of
80 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Is Ministry of Health encouraging the marginalisation of minority languages?

the following is a series of email correspondences between a TOC reader…

End of the road: Dyson quits race to make electric cars

by Martin Abbugao / Catherine Lai British inventor James Dyson has dropped…

雇员控诉公司歧视聘雇 人力部澄清:“并非事实真相”

日前一名员工在网路上控诉公司以外国人才取代她,随后向人力部寻求协助无果的故事引起网民的关注,人力部于14日发表声明澄清并非“事件的真相”,同时她称劳资政公平与良好雇佣联盟(TAFEP)未跟进案件并未属实。 此事由维权人士吴家和于3月6日在脸书所转载,随后由本社英语站报导。该名化名“劳拉”的女士,声称其公司欲聘请来自香港的外国人才,以此取代她的职位。随后她找上人力部,但被转介到劳资政公平与良好雇佣联盟。 她表示,自己也听从人力部的指示,立即联系TAFEP。然而等到她寻求国务资政张志贤和人力部长杨莉明帮助、且威胁公开此事,TAFEP才给予她回应。 TAFEP联系劳拉并给予建议,即等到她收到遣散费后再来进行投诉,因为他们无法保证公司在调查期间是否会提供遣散费。当时劳拉已离开公司两个月。 劳拉声称,如果她不签署“公司免责”信函,人力部与TAFEP无法保证他的遣散费,而他的公司也表示若她不签,公司就不会支付遣散费。 她阐述,这就等同于“企业霸凌”(corporate bullying)。 与此同时,她认为人力部也在默许这种情况发生,她表示,“人力部对于裁员都了如指掌,因为公司裁员是需要向人力部报告,而且他们也批准了香港人才的EP,让她取代我的职位。” “人力部有怀疑过这个外国人才正是取代本地劳动力的可能吗? 仅仅因为它是“公司内部调动”,所以他们就不再质疑了吗?” 本社随后也联系了劳拉的雇主与TAFEP取得回应,当时没有任何一方的答复。 曾公开劳拉真名随后又撤回…

Did a funeral tent block the fire engine access for the SCDF fire fighters at Henderson Road?

SINGAPORE — A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) firefighter who is a…