Man fined for cursing at police when asked to dispose of his beer after 10.30pm cut-off time
Sanjiv Kumar Sivaraj arrives at the State Courts on Jan 26, 2022. (Photo: TODAY/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)
SINGAPORE: A man was fined S$3,000 on Wednesday (Jan 26) for cursing at the police when they told him to dispose of his beer at a coffee shop, as it was past the 10.30pm cut-off time for public consumption of alcohol.
Sanjiv Kumar Sivaraj, 32, told the police officer to dispose of the beer if he wanted to, and said: "Technically, we are paying for your salary, asshole."
If Sanjiv does not pay the fine, he will have to serve two weeks' jail in default.
He pleaded guilty to one count of using insulting words towards a public servant.
Sanjiv was with a group of people at a coffee shop at Block 259, Bukit Panjang Ring Road, on the night of Dec 23, 2020.
A woman at the coffee shop called the police at 10.40pm, saying the group of customers refused to let her remove their beer cups and "want to sit here all the way".
Ten minutes later, three police officers arrived at the coffee shop. They saw Sanjiv and another four people sitting at a table, each with a half-filled beer glass in front of them.
One of the officers told the group that they were not allowed to consume alcohol past 10.30pm and advised them to dispose of the beer.
Sanjiv's four companions poured the beer into a pail and got up to leave, but Sanjiv continued to sit there, smoking his cigarette with his beer cup in front of him.
When the police officer asked him again to throw the beer away, Sanjiv refused and told the officer that he could dispose of it if he wanted to.
The officer told Sanjiv that he could not, because he had not purchased the beer. He asked Sanjiv again to dispose of the beer.
Sanjiv stood up and said: "Technically we are paying for your salary, asshole."
The officer then arrested him for using abusive words towards him.
In mitigation, Sanjiv said he regretted what he did.
"I will refrain from such ... acts in the future, I ... would be more mature," he said.
For using insulting words towards a public servant, Sanjiv could have been jailed up to a year, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
