Uncle allegedly took photos of woman on MRT without her consent
On 22 Aug, a woman in Singapore had her photos allegedly taken in secret by an uncle on the MRT.
She has since shared the story on Reddit, hoping to find answers to her worries and share awareness of the incident.
Woman was standing on the train when incident happened
In an exclusive with MS News, the Original Poster (OP) shares that she is a woman in her late 20s.
In a Reddit post on 23 Aug, the OP said that an uncle took a photo of her with the flash on his phone during a ride on the MRT.
Source: Adil Adhnaf on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
The uncle, who she recalled was wearing a blue shirt, was sitting down while she was standing.
The OP shares with MS News that the uncle “looked away while taking the photo”.
She claims that the uncle’s phone was “clearly angled up towards [her] when it happened”.
Source: Вячеслав Ткачёв on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
The OP adds that she was not wearing anything provocative, only a T-shirt and a long skirt down to her ankles.
Asks him to show his phone gallery
In response, she decided to confront the uncle and asked him to show her his phone’s gallery.
Source: Lisa Fotios on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
Instead, the uncle opened his phone keypad.
He then later opened his camera app and the OP saw that the most recent photo appeared to be a random screenshot.
The OP did not pursue further as she was already caught by surprise.
Uncle appears to feign ignorance, acts suspicious
Speaking to MS News, she says that the uncle “was acting very suspiciously throughout the interaction”.
She adds: “[He was] pretending to not understand what I was saying.”
Following the confrontation, she sat down a few seats away from him.
Before the uncle alighted later at Bedok MRT station, the OP claims he was acting stranger as he “stood facing [her] direction”.
Source: Google Maps
He then took a look at the OP before alighting the train.
According to the OP, no one took notice of the incident.
Regrets not pursuing further, fears there are more photos of other women
In the Reddit post, the OP adds that she should have clicked into the phone’s gallery and scrolled to the past few recent photos.
In hindsight, she is worried that the uncle has been “getting away with taking photos of other women”.
Source: Calvin Seng on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
“Now I feel horrible because he could have photos of other women in there,” wrote the OP.
Although she has considered filing a police report, she is unsure if the report would make any difference.
Thus, she asks on Reddit if anyone has encountered a situation similar to hers, wondering if this is a common occurrence in Singapore.
She adds that while she is a “grown adult reaching [her] 30s”, she still felt afraid.
Source: Kenny Foo on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
Netizens raise safety concerns for women in Singapore
While netizens acknowledged how frightening the encounter might have been for the OP, some pointed out that the man technically did not break the law.
Source: Reddit
However, many still sympathised with the OP’s experience.
Most netizens agree that there have been a lot of similar cases happening recently.
Source: Reddit
A few gave suggestions on how to deal with similar encounters in the future.
Although the law does not dictate photo-taking as an illegal act, many are hoping for authorities to step in and address such cases of privacy invasion.
Also read: Woman in S’pore films TikTok video to defend herself from man who allegedly stalked her
Woman in S’pore films TikTok video to defend herself from man who allegedly stalked her
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Adil Adhnaf and Вячеслав Ткачёв on Pexels