SINGAPORE — A 35-year-old woman was arrested by police officers at Novena Square mall after she poured soup over a random stranger’s head and scuffled with him, the police said in a statement on Wednesday (Oct 14).

She was apprehended under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act and is being investigated for voluntarily causing hurt and using criminal force to hinder a public servant from his duties.

A one-minute video of the police encounter had circulated on social media and networking applications Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In the video, four police officers — three male and one female — were seen surrounding the woman who was speaking to them.

Another two officers were shown speaking to an unidentified man a few metres away from the woman.

One of the four officers surrounding the woman suddenly grabbed her right arm, and then the other officers appeared to place handcuffs on her, then led her away.

The woman could be heard shouting to the officers: “This is against human rights. Why is this necessary?”

In their statement on Wednesday, the police said that they had responded to a call for assistance at Novena Square at 4.24pm after the woman shouted at random to a male patron in a restaurant.

She then allegedly poured a bowl of soup on the stranger, and in the subsequent scuffle, the woman spat at the man and bit his right hand. The man, 32, was later taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The police said that when officers engaged her at the mall, the woman continued to shout “incoherently”. Her relative, who was at the scene, was unable to calm her down.

She was assessed to be posing a danger to herself and the public, and was then apprehended.

“The woman is also being investigated for voluntarily causing hurt and using criminal force to deter a public servant from carrying out his duties. She had hurled verbal abuse and also spat on the officers in the process,” the police said.

The woman is now receiving treatment at the Institute of Mental Health, they added.