Overview

• Legha Pawan, a 22-year-old Indian student, was sentenced on July 16 to 35 months in jail after pleading guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt for pushing an intoxicated stranger into the Singapore River.
• The original charge of causing death by a rash act was reduced and a second count was taken into consideration under Singapore’s criminal code provisions.
• Prosecutors noted that Pawan knew his victim was heavily intoxicated and that an unprovoked chest push made grievous hurt reasonably foreseeable.
• Following the assault, Pawan removed his shirt to avoid identification and returned to his Woodlands flat, where he was arrested the next morning.
• Singapore law allows up to five years’ imprisonment for voluntarily causing hurt resulting in grievous harm, reflecting a firm stance on alcohol-related violence.