SINGAPORE: Upskirt, a term referring to secretly taking photos of a person’s private areas is a serious issue with incidents reported in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.
The recent case here involved a Nanyang Polytechnic student who took upskirt pictures of six women, which were later found hidden in a secret app in his phone, according to a report by AsiaOne.
Chiang Wei Sheng, 19, pleaded guilty in court to three counts of outraging the modesty of women, while the remaining cases were being taken into consideration.
His perverted spree ended when he was caught on April 9 while taking upskirt photos of a 28-year-old woman in Sembawang MRT Station at 8.30am.
The victim felt something brushed against her inner thigh, turned around and saw Chiang with his phone under her dress.
In a separate case last month, a lecturer allegedly took upskirt videos of a female victim in a classroom, said the TodayOnline. If found guilty of insulting the woman’s modesty, he could be made to pay a fine or be jailed for up to one year.
Early this month, a man who took upskirt videos of a woman at a supermarket was caught and pinned down by the victim’s boyfriend.
Law Boon Kaih, 28, was jailed five weeks for one count of insulting a woman’s modesty and possessing obscene films.
Channel News Asia quoted experts who said that the true extent of the problem of voyeurism was far deeper and broader.
On average, one new case was reported every month since 1½ years ago, said clinical psychologist, Joel Yang.
Other experts say that published statistics were just the tip of the iceberg.
“A written parliamentary reply in October last year revealed that 230 voyeurism cases involving hidden cameras were reported to the police in 2017, up from 150 cases in 2013,” said the news portal.
Among the worst cases that took place involved an engineer who recorded 211 of mostly upskirt and changing room videos at shopping malls last October.
Across the region, a man was arrested in Bangkok and charged with fitting a mobile phone to his shoe to take upskirt photos of TV actress Patricia Tanchanok Good.
“Natthawut Wongrattanakornchai, 40, was arrested last month at a fashion show in Gaysorn Village shopping mall in Path-umwan,” said the Bangkok Post.
He was charged with committing sexual indecency in violation of Section 278 of the Criminal Code, that carried a jail term of up to 10 years or a fine up to 200,000 baht, or both.
Meanwhile, a Hong Kong man who attempted to take upskirt photos of a woman three years ago was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, after an undercover police officer caught him in the act outside the Kwai Fong Metro Station on April 13, 2016.
In another case that took place in the middle of this year, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher was jailed six weeks for taking upskirt pictures of his students and uploading them to an Internet forum.
A more surprising exposé in Japan came from a survey answered by 1,623 respondents which revealed that 60 per cent of flight attendants had fallen prey to surreptitious photographing and filming during flights.
The Japan Federation of Aviation Industry Unions conducted the nationwide survey from April to June on flight attendants who worked for its six-member companies, including Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.