A former yoga instructor was found guilty on May 16 of outraging the modesty of three women.

However, he was acquitted of molesting a fourth woman.

Rajpal Singh, 34, an Indian national, committed the offences during 2019 and 2020, when he was conducting classes at yoga studio Trust Yoga.

The women were all students at his classes.

Instructor molested women while adjusting their poses

The matter first came to light in July 2020 when a woman alleged online that Singh had molested her during a class.

In early August, Trust Yoga acknowledged the allegations of sexual assault, asked Singh to take a leave of absence, and began an internal investigation.

In the weeks after the first woman's allegation, several other women came forward to share their own alleged experiences of sexual assault at Trust Yoga.

One such woman said she had felt a smack on her butt as the instructor passed her during a pose, but initially dismissed it as an unintentional, one-off incident since it never happened again.

However, when the other woman came forward with her own experience in July, she realised it "was no accident" and filed a police report of her own.

Singh was charged with 10 counts of outrage of modesty in November 2021 and claimed trial to contest them.

Convicted of molesting 3 women

According to CNA, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that three of the complainants were "unusually convincing" witnesses.

The three women were referred to as Ms C, Ms V and Ms R due to a court order protecting their identities.

In contrast, Singh's defence, which was led by lawyer Anil Changaroth Wong of RHTLaw Asia, contained material deficiencies that undermined Singh's claims.

During his trial, Singh claimed he did not commit the physical acts.

No yoga adjustments would necessitate touching a student's private parts, he said, adding that he was "very careful" not to touch the women there when performing any adjustments.

However, in the case of Ms C, Singh claimed at trial that he only touched her thigh, and this contradicted his statement to police that he had tapped the left side of her hips near the buttocks.

Regarding Singh's molestation of Ms V and Ms R, the defence claimed that if he did indeed touch their private parts, he was merely adjusting their poses.

Judge Sripathy-Shanaz was quick to point out that this was "glaringly inconsistent" with Singh's broader defence that he would never need to touch a student's private parts to adjust their positions.

She said that such "contradictory and competing claims" in the defence's case made Singh's case "devoid of credibility".

She also found that the three women's testimony was not undermined by how they behaved after the incidents.

The judge noted that Ms C did not express her discomfort after being molested, and went on to complete the lesson. She said this was because she was shocked and did not know how to react.

Meanwhile, Ms V and Ms R made their police reports months after they were molested.

The judge said:

"Our legal system recognises that each individual's reaction to trauma is unique and personal. Therefore, the absence of immediate confrontation should not be viewed as a marker of the credibility or veracity of a complainant's claim."

She also addressed the question of delayed reporting of alleged sexual assault, saying that such delays may be due to "significant psychological and emotional complexities".

She said a delayed police report would not automatically make an allegation of sexual assault suspect.

Acquitted of molesting a 4th woman

Singh was acquitted of three other charges relating to his alleged molestation of a fourth woman, Ms Y.

Judge Sripathy-Shanaz said that Ms Y had shown "continued active, unsolicited and vocal support of Mr Rajpal", which was "incongruent" with her allegations of molestation, given that there was no other evidence in the case. 

The judge referred to two WhatsApp messages from Ms Y to Singh and another prosecution witness, sent in August 2020, after Singh had allegedly molested Ms Y.

In Ms Y's message to Singh, she called him a "good instructor", which the judge interpreted as her vouching for him.

According to the prosecution's submissions, Ms Y's explanation for this was that she "had not come to terms" with her alleged molestation and "felt that it was easier for her to say that the incidents of molest did not happen".

This gave rise to "reservations about the reliability of her narrative", said the judge in response.

Sentencing in July

Singh, who is out on bail of S$25,000, has had his passport impounded.

He will return to court for sentencing in July.

The offence of outrage of modesty, under Section 354 of the Penal Code, carries punishment of up to three years in jail, a fine, caning, or any combination of these penalties.