Singapore reviews penalties after outcry over sentencing of NUS student in strangling case
- The home affairs ministry will look into past cases involving violence against women after 23-year-old Yin Zi Qin received a relatively light sentence
- There was outrage over the perception those with lesser academic qualifications were given harsher sentences after similar offences
In a rare rebuke of a court ruling by the establishment, female MPs from the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) issued a statement expressing dismay over a sentence they described as “disproportionate to the offence” committed by 23-year-old dentistry student Yin Zi Qin.
The latest disquiet follows similar criticism in recent times over the perception that university undergraduates – as opposed to others with lesser academic qualifications – are given lighter sentences in cases involving violence against women.
In a Facebook post, influential law and home minister K. Shanmugam said he had asked the home affairs ministry to conduct a review of sentences in such cases.
“In this case, the court has made its decision, and we should respect the judgment. I can understand people looking to the courts, when they feel unhappy with the sentencing,” Shanmugam said. “But the courts are not the issue – they are independent, and apply the law, to the facts as presented to them.”
The case involving National University of Singapore (NUS) student Yin has been the hot topic in the island republic since last Friday, when he was sentenced for causing voluntary hurt in the May 2019 incident.
