Protection from Harassment Act 2014 - Singapore Statutes Online

Offences in relation to public servant or public service worker

6.—(1) An individual or entity that by any means —

(a)	uses any indecent, threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour; or
(b)	makes any indecent, threatening, abusive or insulting communication,

towards or to a public servant or public service worker (called in this section, except subsection (1A), the victim) in relation to the execution of the duty of the public servant or public service worker, shall be guilty of an offence.

[17/2019]

(1A) An individual or entity that contravenes section 3(1)(c) (in relation to a target person under section 3(1)(c) who is a public servant or public service worker) —

(a)	with the intent to prevent or deter that public servant or public service worker from discharging the duty of that public servant or public service worker; or
(b)	in consequence of anything done or attempted to be done by that public servant or public service worker in the lawful discharge of the duty of that public servant or public service worker,

shall be guilty of an offence.

[17/2019]

(2) No offence is committed under this section unless the accused individual or accused entity (called in this section the accused) knows or ought reasonably to know that the victim was acting in the victim’s capacity as a public servant or public service worker, as the case may be.

[17/2019]

(3) Subject to section 8, an individual or entity shall be liable, on conviction for an offence under subsection (1) or (1A), to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

[17/2019]

(4) It is a defence for the accused to prove —

(a)	in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1), 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)	in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) or (1A), that the accused’s conduct was reasonable. [17/2019]

(5) In this section —

“public servant” has the meaning given by the Penal Code 1871, and includes any person who, by virtue of any other written law, is deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871;

“public service worker” means an individual who belongs to a prescribed class of employees or workers that provides any service which is essential to the wellbeing of the public or the proper functioning of Singapore, as prescribed under subsection (6).

(6) For the purposes of the definition of “public service worker” in subsection (5), the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, prescribe the classes of employees or workers and the services provided by them.

(7) Every order made under subsection (6) must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.

Illustration

X is unhappy that a public servant, Y, refused to waive a late payment charge. X writes several posts on an open social media platform with abusive comments about Y in relation to the incident. In a subsequent post, X posts Y’s name, home address and photograph on the same open social media platform in order to cause Y distress. Y is distressed by the subsequent post. X is guilty of an offence under this section.

[17/2019]

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