By PTI
SINGAPORE: A 32-year-old Indian yoga instructor was on Tuesday charged with 10 counts of molestation for sexually abusing five women while teaching them yoga in a studio in Singapore.
The man, who could not be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the victims, is accused of inappropriately touching the women, aged between 24 and 29 years, at a yoga studio between June 2019 and July 2020, Channel News Asia reported.
According to a previous police statement, the man allegedly molested the victims while he was teaching them yoga.
The accused told the district court that his Singaporean friend will bail him out, and that he will be getting a lawyer and claiming trial.
The man appeared in the court via a video link and was offered a bail of SGD 15,000 (USD 10,952).
The case has been adjourned till December 14.
The penalties for molestation in Singapore are jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these punishments.
The police said they have “zero tolerance towards sexual offenders who threaten the personal safety of the community, and will deal with them sternly in accordance with the law”.
The man is not the first yoga instructor in Singapore to face molestation charges, according to The Straits Times report.
In April 2018, another Indian national was sentenced to nine months in jail and imposed a fine of SGD 1,000 (USD 730.05) after he molested a female student.
In October 2018, the man’s jail sentence was increased to an year, and he was also ordered to receive three strokes of cane after the High Court allowed an appeal by the prosecution.
