Protection from Harassment Act 2014 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Offences
6. Offences in relation to public servant or public service worker
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2025. 2 amendments in all.
An individual or entity that by any means —
entity
“entity” means any company or association or body of persons (whether corporate or unincorporate), but excludes any public agency;
uses any threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual or indecent words or behaviour; or
makes any threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual or indecent communication,towards or to a public servant or public service worker (called in this section, except subsection (1A), the victim) in relation to the execution of the duty of the public servant or public service worker, shall be guilty of an offence.
An individual or entity that, by any means, publishes any identity information of a public servant or public service worker or a related person of a public servant or public service worker —
identity information
“identity information” means any information that, whether on its own or with other information, identifies or purports to identify an individual, including (but not limited to) any of the following:(a)the individual’s name, residential address, email address, telephone number, date of birth, national registration identity card number, passport number, signature (whether handwritten or electronic) or password;(b)any photograph or video recording of the individual;(c)any information about the individual’s family, employment or education;
with intent to cause harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation to the public servant or public service worker; and
either —
with intent to prevent or deter the public servant or public service worker from discharging the duty of that public servant or public service worker; or
in consequence of anything done or attempted to be done by the public servant or public service worker in the lawful discharge of the duty of that public servant or public service worker,shall be guilty of an offence.
No offence is committed under this section unless the accused individual or accused entity (called in this section the accused) knows or ought reasonably to know that the victim was acting in the victim’s capacity as a public servant or public service worker, as the case may be.
Subject to section 8, an individual or entity shall be liable, on conviction for an offence under subsection (1) or (1A), to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
It is a defence for the accused to prove —
in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1), that the accused had no reason to believe that the words or behaviour used, or the communication made, by the accused would be heard, seen or otherwise perceived by the victim; or
in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) or (1A), that the accused’s conduct was reasonable.
In this section —
“public servant” has the meaning given by the Penal Code 1871, and includes any person who, by virtue of any other written law, is deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871;
“public service worker” means an individual who belongs to a prescribed class of employees or workers that provides any service which is essential to the wellbeing of the public or the proper functioning of Singapore, as prescribed under subsection (6).
For the purposes of the definition of “public service worker” in subsection (5), the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, prescribe the classes of employees or workers and the services provided by them.
Every order made under subsection (6) must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.Illustration X is unhappy that a public servant, Y, refused to waive a late payment charge. X writes several posts on an open social media platform with abusive comments about Y in relation to the incident. In a subsequent post, X posts Y’s name, home address and photograph on the same open social media platform in order to cause Y distress. Y is distressed by the subsequent post. X is guilty of an offence under this section.