Indian-origin man jailed for taking upskirt videos of women

Singapore, May 23

A 34-year-old Indian-origin man has been jailed for six months for taking upskirt videos of nearly 60 women in public places, a media report said today.

The accused, Nantha Kumar Palakrishnan would put his iPhone 4, its camera facing up inside his laptop bag, on top of some books and shoot videos unknown to women.

With the camera in recording mode, he would then surreptitiously place the unzipped bag on the floor behind unsuspecting women, The Straits Times reported.

He took to taking such videos after watching such clips on the Internet in June 2013. Between July and August of the same year, he targeted women at popular shopping areas and subway stations.

But Nantha, a part-time tutor, was caught at a shopping mall on August 26 of that year by the male colleague of one of his victims, when he was caught placing a bag behind her and adjusting it.

Nantha apologised but the man opened the bag and found the phone inside it in recording mode.

Police were called in and a further check on the phone showed Nantha had stocked such footage of several women including the victim of that day.

Police raided his apartment the next day and seized a laptop that was also found full of such videos.

Nantha was charged yesterday in a court with 59 counts of insulting the modesty of the women he had filmed. Eight of the charges were proceeded with.

District Judge Adam Nakhoda said there were "multiple aggravating factors", as the accused had committed many offences within the span of a month.

He added that the accused's deeds involved an amount of planning and premeditation, and that he was aware his actions were wrong.

Nantha could have been jailed up to one year, fined, or both for each charge, the report said. — PTI