Protection from Harassment Act 2014 - Singapore Statutes Online

Fear, provocation or facilitation of violence

5.—(1) An individual or entity must not by any means use towards another person (called in this section, except subsection (1A), the victim) any threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or make any threatening, abusive or insulting communication to another person (also called in this section, except subsection (1A), the victim), either —

(a)

with the intent —

(i)	to cause the victim to believe that unlawful violence will be used by any person against the victim or any other person; or
(ii)	to provoke the use of unlawful violence by the victim or another person against any other person; or

(b)

whereby —

(i)	the victim is likely to believe that such violence mentioned in paragraph (a)(i) will be used; or
(ii)	it is likely that such violence mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii) will be provoked. [17/2019]

(1A) An individual or entity must not by any means publish any identity information of another person (called in this subsection the victim) or a related person of the victim, either —

(a)

with the intent —

(i)	to cause the victim to believe that unlawful violence will be used against the victim or any other person; or
(ii)	to facilitate the use of unlawful violence against the victim or any other person; or

(b)

knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that it is likely —

(i)	to cause the victim to believe that unlawful violence will be used against the victim or any other person; or
(ii)	to facilitate the use of unlawful violence against the victim or any other person. [17/2019]

(2) Any individual or entity that contravenes subsection (1) or (1A) shall be guilty of an offence and, subject to section 8, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

[17/2019]

(3) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2), it is a defence for the accused individual or accused entity (called in this section the accused) to prove —

(a)

in respect of a contravention of subsection (1)(b), that the accused had no reason to believe that the words or behaviour used, or the communication made, by the accused would be heard, seen or otherwise perceived by the victim; or

(b)

that the accused’s conduct was reasonable.

Illustrations

(a) X and Y are classmates. X writes a post with threatening and abusive remarks against Y on a website accessible to all their classmates. X writes a subsequent post on the same website, stating Y’s identity information and stating “Everyone, let’s beat Y up!”. X is guilty of an offence under this section in respect of the subsequent post.

(b) X writes a public post on a social media platform containing threats against Y. X publishes a subsequent public post stating A’s home address and a message “I know where you live”. X is guilty of an offence under this section relating to conduct mentioned in section 5(1A)(a)(i) if X intends the subsequent post to cause Y to believe that violence will be used against A, or an offence under this section relating to conduct mentioned in section 5(1A)(b)(i) if X knows that it is likely that Y will believe that violence will be used against A as a result of X’s subsequent post.

(c) X writes a post (on a social media platform to which Y does not have access) containing threats of violence against Y and calling others to “hunt him down and teach him a lesson”. B posts Y’s home address in reply to X’s post. B is guilty of an offence under this section.

[17/2019]

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