No, Woman in Singapore Wasn’t Arrested for Not Wearing a Mask

The woman was arrested for allegedly pouring soup on man’s head and biting his hand in Singapore’s Novena Square.

The woman was arrested at Novena Square, Singapore for allegedly pouring a bowl of soup on a stranger and biting and spitting at him. 

(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A video of a woman being arrested in Singapore has gone viral on social media with a claim that she was arrested for not wearing a mask in public.

However, we found that the woman was arrested for allegedly pouring soup on man's head and biting his hand.

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

CLAIM

The aforementioned video is being shared on Facebook and Twitter with a claim which reads, “Singapore. no mask, no questions, straightaway arrest”.

The post was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

Screenshot of the search results on Facebook.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT:

We fragmented the video using Google Chrome extension Invid and followed it up with a reverse image search. This led us to a few news reports from 14 October 2020.

One of the news reports, published by AsiaOne, said that the woman was arrested at Novena Square in Singapore for allegedly pouring a bowl of soup on a stranger and biting and spitting on him. The report contained screenshots of the same video.

An archive of the post can be found here.(Photo: Screenshot/AsiaOne)

We reached out to Rainer Chung, the journalist who covered the incident for AsiaOne, who shared the Singapore Police’s statement on the case. According to the police statement, the girl was apprehended under Section 7 of the Mental Heath (Care and Treatment Act) for “posing danger to herself and the public”.

The police statement also said that the woman was being investigated for voluntarily causing hurt and using criminal force to deter a public servant from carrying out his duties.

The news report was also found on other news outlets such as Today Online, The Independent and Mothership.

Moreover, the rules laid out by the Singapore government website doesn’t mention “arrest” for not wearing masks. According to the Ministry of Health, “first-time offenders will be issued a fine of $300 and repeat offenders will face higher fines or prosecution in court.”

FAQs mentioned on the Ministry of Health website.(Photo: Screenshot/Ministry of Health, Singapore)

Evidently, a false claim has been attached to the viral video of the woman getting arrested.

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