Indian national jailed for role in Singapore riot

Singapore: A 31-year-old Indian national was jailed on Tuesday for 18 weeks in Singapore for his role in the country’s worst riot in 40 years, the sixth person to be sentenced in connection with the incident. [caption id=“attachment_1460351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bystanders gather on the corner of a street in Little India on 9 December, 2013, following a riot the day before by South Asian workers in the worst outbreak of violence in more than 40 years in the tightly controlled city-state. AFP[/caption] Krishnan Saravanan was convicted of the amended charge of failing to disperse from the riot scene in the Little India precinct – a precinct of Indian businesses, eateries and pubs – despite being lawfully commanded to do so, The Straits Times reported. Saravanan is the sixth man to plead guilty for his role in the riot on 8 December last year, which was sparked by the death of an Indian national in a bus accident. He had originally faced a rioting charge, which carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and caning. His sentence was backdated to the time of his arrest on 9 December last year. Saravanan was among 25 people charged in relation to the riot to plead guilty. Five others were sentenced under the same amended charge to serve between 15 and 18 weeks in jail in the last two months. Cases against the remaining 19 charged with rioting are pending in court. Some 400 migrant workers from South Asia rioted following the fatal accident, injuring 49 police and Home Team officers and damaging 23 emergency vehicles. PTI