• Dr Azman Osman held strong religious views about how a woman should dress
• He felt provoked by a fellow bus passenger’s attire and decided to expose his own underwear to her
• He was convicted after a trial and jailed two weeks in 2017
• A disciplinary tribunal has now found that while his views may have affected his reaction, it would not impact his ability to practise or deal with his patients in an appropriate manner

SINGAPORE — A medical practitioner of more than 20 years’ standing has been suspended for four months for insulting the modesty of a female bus passenger back in 2016, by exposing his underwear and groin to her.

Dr Azman Osman was convicted after a trial and jailed for two weeks in 2017. 

He unzipped his pants in front of the 56-year-old victim while on board an SBS bus in July 2016, saying that he had done so because he thought she was wearing provocative attire.

A disciplinary tribunal appointed by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) then conducted its own investigation and published its grounds of decision on Tuesday (July 13). 

Apart from suspending him for four months, the tribunal also ordered Dr Azman to be censured, give a written undertaking to the medical watchdog that he not repeat such behaviour again and pay the costs and expenses of the disciplinary proceedings.

His suspension will run from July 13 to Nov 12 this year.

Dr Azman had pleaded guilty before the tribunal in 2018 to one charge of professional misconduct under the Medical Registration Act, in relation to his actions on the bus.

The tribunal then referred the matter to a health committee to determine if Dr Azman’s fitness to practise medicine could be impaired by any mental condition he might have. 

The health committee ultimately found no mental impairments, observing during an inquiry that he was able to explain his behaviour “in a rational and cogent manner”.

The committee ruled that his “very strong religious views” about how a woman should dress may have affected the way he reacted on the bus, but this would not affect his ability to practise medicine or deal with his patients in an appropriate manner.

Dr Azman said he believed that the victim, a non-Muslim Chinese woman, was a prostitute. 

He “felt provoked by her attire as she was wearing a pair of shorts so revealing that she had exposed her underwear to (him) while sitting and facing him on the SBS bus”, the tribunal noted.

Because of this, he decided to expose his own underwear to her.

“This reasoning was bizarre in the context of multi-ethnic and multi-religious Singapore and it was of concern to the tribunal if he would continue with similar reasoning when attending to patients,” the tribunal noted.

He also chose to claim trial in court when the attending police officer offered him the choice of a warning, maintaining his justification for his actions.

Lawyers for SMC had argued for Dr Azman to be suspended for six to nine months and ordered not to see female patients without a chaperone present.

They pointed to his lack of remorse during the criminal trial and before the disciplinary tribunal.

During the trial, he was “belligerent” and “cast baseless aspersions on the victim”, attempting to portray himself as the victim by claiming he was provoked by her attire, the lawyers noted.

Dr Azman’s defence counsel, Mr Noor Mohamed Marican, argued that his client had a long unblemished track record and should merely be censured and make a written undertaking to abstain from such behaviour.

In coming to its decision, the tribunal said it was satisfied that Dr Azman’s criminal conviction implied a defect in character that made him unfit for his profession.

It agreed with SMC that his behaviour on the bus and how he had contested the criminal charge were “incompatible with the standards of moral integrity expected from members of the medical profession”.

Even though he ultimately pleaded guilty after receiving legal advice, the tribunal found that he was not truly remorseful as he maintained that he was justified in his actions.

The tribunal comprised Associate Professor Siow Jin Keat, a senior consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital; Dr Wong Sen Chow, a surgeon who practises in a clinic at Mount Alvernia Hospital; and Ms Chong Chin Chin, a legal service officer.