SINGAPORE — They were sharing a GrabShare ride when the woman noticed the other passenger, a 36-year-old man, behaving suspiciously.

Moments later, Sheth Jimit Dhairyakant flashed his private parts at the 32-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect her identity.

On Friday (Jan 4), the Indian national was jailed for 12 days after he admitted to one count of insulting the modesty of the woman.

The court heard that the woman boarded the GrabShare vehicle at around 12.40am on Oct 26, 2017. She was travelling from Marina Bay Sands to Bedok North.

Dhairyakant, a business development manager, boarded the vehicle at Cecil Street about 10 minutes later and sat in the rear passenger seat next to the woman.

She noticed that Dhairyakant was acting suspiciously. “(He) was seen holding his mobile phone in her direction and whenever she looked at him, he quickly moved it away to his face, as if to type something,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Senthilkumaran Sabapathy.

She turned off the music she was listening to and closed her eyes slightly to discreetly observe him.

She then heard shuffling noises beside her and saw Dhairyakant exposed and touching his private parts.

The woman texted the GrabShare driver to inform him about the incident and asked that they be taken to a police station.

When he did not acknowledge her message, she asked to be dropped off at a location beside a police station, where she made a police report.

Dhairyakant admitted during investigations that he had noticed what the woman was wearing.

“During the trip, he started to fantasise about her and became aroused,” said DPP Senthilkumaran, who asked for a jail sentence of at least two weeks.

Dhairyakant will commence his sentence on Friday. For insulting a woman’s modesty, he could have been jailed up to a year, and/or fined.