SINGAPORE - A 27-year-old man was arrested after an alert commuter spotted him appearing to take an upskirt video of a woman on an escalator at Bishan MRT station.
Mr Fitri Hakim, 27, told The Straits Times on Friday (May 4) that he noticed the suspect recording a video on the upriding escalator towards the North-South Line at around 4.55pm on Thursday.
"I'm very aware of my surroundings," said the process engineer. "He was holding onto his phone, along with his wallet. His wallet was covering part of his phone, but about a fifth of the phone was exposed."
Mr Fitri said he saw the red video-recording button on the part of the phone that was exposed, which meant the man was possibly taking a video.
In a clip Mr Fitri posted on Facebook, the man was shown appearing to take an upskirt video of a woman on the escalator step in front of him.
"He was trailing behind the girl, it was quite obvious that he was trailing her," he said. "The escalator wasn't packed, it was just one line (of people) on the left, but he went right behind the lady. I was beside him, and because I saw his intentions, I took a video of him."
The woman got off the escalator and went off towards the trains, but the man turned towards a flight of stairs.
"I caught him then," said Mr Fitri. "I grabbed hold of his arm and I asked him: 'So did you manage to get the video?' He was quite shocked and said 'what video'. I told him to unlock his phone, and he showed me a photo of his family. I swiped all the way to the end and saw a video of the woman."
Mr Fitri then took the man to the ticketing office, where an employee called the Public Transport Security Command (Transcom).
Transcom officers arrived and confiscated his phone. The man was shocked and started shaking when police spoke to him, Mr Fitri said.
According to Mr Fitri, the police are investigating with reference to closed-circuit television footage as well.
In response to queries from ST, the police said they were alerted to a case of insulting the modesty of a woman at Bishan MRT at about 5pm on Thursday.
"A 27-year-old man was arrested in relation to the case," said a police spokesman.
Police investigations are ongoing.
Mr Fitri, who has one older sister, said he was aware that upskirt cases occur in Singapore, but this was the first time he encountered one.
"I was thinking about the people in general (who may be victims), including my close friends," he said.
Last month, a 31-year-old Malaysian national who took 84 upskirt videos was jailed 24 weeks.
That same month, a 34-year-old delivery driver who took 61 upskirt videos was given 24 weeks' jail.
In February, a 28-year-old Taiwanese doctoral student was jailed for two weeks for taking an upskirt video of a woman at Jurong West Central Mall 2.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...im-taking-upskirt-video-at-bishan-mrt-station
