NEW DELHI, Nov 25: A 73-year-old Indian national was charged in a Singapore court on Monday for allegedly molesting four women while on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from the United States to Singapore earlier this month.
Balasubramanian Ramesh is accused of molesting one of the women four times and is said to have targeted three others once each on the flight on November 18. He was handed seven molestation charges in a district court on Monday, local media reports said. Court documents do not disclose if the women were the carrier’s passengers or crew, and they cannot be named to protect their identities.
Balasubramanian is accused of molesting the first woman at around 3:15 am and the second woman about five minutes later during the flight. He allegedly molested the second woman three more times between 3:30 am and 6 am. He is also said to have outraged the modesty of a third woman at around 9:30 am and allegedly molested the fourth woman at around 5:30 pm.
Under the Singapore law, for each count of molestation, an offender can be jailed for up to three years, fined or caned, or receive any combination of such punishments. However, Balasubramanian cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.
(Manas Dasgupta)