Guide · Police and courts · 3 min read
Harassment, online and offline
What the Protection from Harassment Act prohibits, stalking, and how to get a protection order or damages.
In plain English · by laws.sg · not legal advice· Law as at 30 Sep 2026
On this page · 5 parts
The short answer
Subject to the Act, the victim of an alleged contravention of section 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 of the Protection from Harassment Act can apply to a court for a protection order.
Protection from Harassment Act s 12(1)
The victim can also bring civil proceedings and, if the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the section was contravened, be awarded damages.
What the Act prohibits
No individual or entity may, intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress to another person, use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, make a threatening, abusive or insulting communication, or publish identity information of that person or a related person, and as a result cause harassment, alarm or distress. It is an offence, and a defence to prove that the conduct was reasonable.
Protection from Harassment Act s 3
Even without that intent, it is an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or make such a communication, that is heard, seen or otherwise perceived by a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, subject to the defences in the section.
Protection from Harassment Act s 4
It is also an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards someone intending to make them believe unlawful violence will be used against them or another person, or where they are likely to believe it.
Stalking
An individual or entity must not unlawfully stalk another person. Subject to the defences in the section, unlawful stalking is a course of conduct that involves acts or omissions associated with stalking, causes the victim harassment, alarm or distress, and is intended to, or is known or ought reasonably to be known to be likely to, cause it.
Protection from Harassment Act s 7(1), (2)
In particular circumstances, acts associated with stalking include following the victim or a related person, communicating or trying to communicate with them, loitering near their home, place of business or another place they frequent, interfering with their property, sending them material, and keeping them under surveillance.
Protection orders
A court may make a protection order if it is just and equitable, and it is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the respondent has contravened the relevant section against the victim and is likely to continue that contravention, or to commit another contravention of those sections, against the victim.
Protection from Harassment Act s 12(2)
A protection order may prohibit the respondent from doing anything the order specifies in relation to the victim or a related person, require the respondent to stop publishing an offending communication, or refer those involved to counselling or mediation.
Civil claims for damages
The victim of an alleged contravention of sections 3, 4, 5 or 7 may bring civil proceedings in a court against the individual or entity alleged to have contravened it. If the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities, it may award the damages it considers just and equitable in all the circumstances.
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