A man on the MRT was observed unusually leaning out of his seat towards a female passenger seated next to him, with his hand placed on her seat.

A bystander, Dwayne Low, who witnessed the incident, took to Instagram and Facebook to chronicle this incident on Nov. 16.

The picture uploaded by Low shows the man's hand placed squarely on the seat occupied by the female passenger.

His arm appears to be making contact with her as well.

Low observed that the unsolicited physical contact made the female passenger "obviously uncomfortable", though she did not speak up about it.

In spite of this, Low gave the male commuter the benefit of the doubt, assuming that he was asleep.

However, minutes later, Low observed that the man woke up, and moved even closer to the female passenger.

In response, he stood up, tapped the man on his leg, and asked him to move away from her.

According to Low, the man moved away and stopped physical contact with the girl, though he "didn't even seem apologetic", and went back to sleep.

In his post about the incident, Low urged people to "step up if they witness such things happening to strangers".

He also encouraged girls not to be afraid to speak up for themselves.

"[T]here shouldn't be tolerance for such disgusting behaviour", he said.

Response to the incident

A screenshot of Low's Instagram story, shared by his sister Sabrina Low on Facebook, has been shared over 14,000 times in less than 24 hours since it was uploaded on Nov. 16.

Here's the full text of his post:

So I was in the train when I witness an uncle trying to be funny. So he was asleep and his hands and shoulders were so close to a lady, and the lady was obviously uncomfortable and didn't dare to speak up. I gave the benefit of doubt for a good 5 mins since he was "sleeping". BUT HE WOKE UP, and went even closer to the girl and that was when I couldn't take it no more.

I stood up and tap this fella on the leg and ask him to move his hands and body away from her. Well, he didn't even seem apologetic and just went back to slp but his hands went away and he stopped the physical contact.

Girls, do not be afraid to speak up because there shouldn't be tolerance for such disgusting behavior. And I encourage peeps to step up if they witness such things happening to strangers. A good deed will go a long way!

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Top image via Dwayne Low on Facebook