Sarjit Singh s/o Sardara Singh v Panjit Kaur d/o Gurdev Singh

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Vince Gui
• Judgment Date: 08 August 2023
• Neutral Citation: [2023] SGDC 171
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: District Court Suit No. 345 of 2022
• Hearing Date: 31 July 2023,13 June 2023,14 June 2023,16 June 2023,27 March 2023
• Citation: [2023] SGDC 171
• Year: 2023
• Plaintiff Counsel: Lim Tahn Lin Alfred and Choong Guo Yan, Sean (Meritus Law LLC)
• Defendant Counsel: Singh Ranjit and Andre Teo (Francis Khoo & Lim)
• Subject Matter: Tort,Defamation,Defamatory statements,Justification,Fair Comment
• Published date: 17 August 2023

District Judge Vince Gui: Introduction

Khalsa Dharmak Sabha (“KDS”) is a place of worship for the Sikh community in Singapore. The Sikhs call it a Gurdwara.¹ It is also known as a Sikh Temple.²

In the morning of 6 December 2021, an altercation erupted at KDS. A bystander reportedly witnessed the Plaintiff berating a KDS cleaner. Seeing that the cleaner was almost in tears, the bystander intervened. He pleaded for the altercation to end.

After the altercation ended, the Plaintiff allegedly scolded the bystander for being a busybody. According to the bystander, the Plaintiff also used vulgar language on him.

The Plaintiff later found out from another KDS member that the bystander was an off-duty police officer. The Plaintiff lodged a police report against the bystander, alleging that the bystander had raised his voice at the Plaintiff and displayed acts of aggression. The bystander was called to provide a statement to the police.

The Defendant, a fellow member of KDS, took umbrage at the Plaintiff’s conduct upon learning of the incident. She circulated a notice calling for an extraordinary general meeting (“EGM”) to remove the Plaintiff from his position as a member of the management committee of KDS. The notice, amongst others, alleged that the Plaintiff had (1) uttered vulgarities at the bystander; and (2) humiliated and degraded the cleaner. Along with another act which I will elaborate below, the Defendant claimed that the Plaintiff had destroyed the sanctity of the temple.

The Plaintiff voluntarily stepped down from the management committee before the EGM was convened. After stepping down, he decided to sue the Defendant for defamation.

Parties gave divergent accounts of the incident at trial. I begin my judgment with a summary of the background facts.

Background facts

KDS, located at 18 Niven Road Singapore 238365, conducts regular worship and prayer sessions for the Sikh community in Singapore. The management committee of KDS manages the projects, subcommittees, employees and finances of KDS.³

In addition to being a devotee and member, the Plaintiff was also a member of the KDS management committee. He was also the Chairman of its kitchen services, which vested him overall supervision of the kitchen, food hall and food service.⁴

The kitchen, known as a “Langgar” to the Sikhs, served meals to its devotees free of charge. It was customary for devotees to donate a token sum to the cooks. Devotees would pass their donations to the cooks at the dining hall. This was because the cooks were paid a minimal wage by KDS (around $450 per month)⁵ and did not receive Central Provident Fund (“CPF”) contributions.⁶

Shamoo allegedly taking money from devotees

The Plaintiff was upset that a KDS cleaner, Hardip Singh, known to the KDS members as “Shamoo”, had been seen appearing at the dining hall during meal service together with the cooks and collecting donations from devotees. He felt this was unbecoming. Unlike the cooks, Shamoo was drawing a salary of around $1,400 plus CPF contributions.⁷ The Plaintiff took the view that Shamoo did not deserve to collect donations.⁸

Shamoo was, in fact, recruited by the Plaintiff. He first knew him when Shamoo was a waiter at a restaurant at Singapore Khalsa Association Club. He got retrenched when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The Plaintiff recommended him to the KDS management committee. KDS eventually hired him as a cleaner.⁹

The Plaintiff had spoken to Shamoo on various occasions to relay his concerns. He told him he should not be asking for money within KDS.¹⁰ According to the Plaintiff, he heard that Shamoo continued to ask for money.¹¹

The incident on 6 December 2021

Things came to a head on 6 December 2021. The Plaintiff and his wife visited KDS in the morning. The Plaintiff, upon seeing Shamoo, took the opportunity to confront him on whether he had been asking for money again.¹²

Disparate accounts have been given as to what transpired thereafter. I will summarise the Plaintiff’s account and turn to discuss the other witnesses’ account.

According to the Plaintiff:¹³ Shamoo replied that he only asked for money from an individual named “Manjit”. The Plaintiff asked Shamoo to stop asking for money. Shamoo suddenly became aggressive and said “you and your family will die in the accident while travelling in your car”. Shamoo challenged him to a fight. The Plaintiff was shocked by the sudden, unprovoked behaviour. Zoravar Singh Bahadur (“Zoravar”), a fellow member of KDS, tried to calm Shamoo down. The Plaintiff decided to walk away. The Plaintiff’s wife was close by and witnessed the events above. She also walked away. They both went to the prayer hall at level 3. Zoravar suddenly shouted at the Plaintiff and asked why he was creating all these commotion. He did not give the Plaintiff a chance to explain himself. The Plaintiff decided to walk away. Just as he was walking towards the lift, Zoravar approached him aggressively and told him to “be careful”. The Plaintiff was caught off guard and decided to proceed to the prayer hall.

According to Zoravar:¹⁴ He attended KDS that morning to help with the morning prayer sessions. This was because KDS was shorthanded during the pandemic. At the end of the first prayer session, Zoravar was asked by one of the priests to stay on for the next prayer session at 10 am, and he agreed. At around 9.15 am, Zoravar heard a commotion at the shoe rack and wash basin area which was located near the main entrance of KDS. He saw Shamoo involved in an argument with the Plaintiff. At that time, he did not know who the Plaintiff was. He only found out who he was later. Zoravar did not want to get involved initially. He stood nearby to observe the argument. He observed the Plaintiff berating Shamoo, calling him, amongst others, a “bastard” and an “idiot”, and saying Shamoo did not know who he was. Shamoo retaliated saying that the Plaintiff did not know who Shamoo was. The Plaintiff threatened to call the police. Shamoo challenged the Plaintiff to do so as he did nothing wrong. Shamoo was almost in tears. Zoravar walked towards them and pulled Shamoo away. He tried to calm Shamoo down. However, the Plaintiff continued to berate Shamoo. Zoravar moved towards the Plaintiff and pleaded with him to stop. The Plaintiff refused and continued to shout at Shamoo. Zoravar eventually backed off. He did not want to escalate matters. He overheard the Plaintiff telling Shamoo that he knew Shamoo’s family and that Shamoo “got no money” and “go around asking for money”. Shamoo retorted that he had money. Shamoo also opened his wallet and showed it to the Plaintiff. The argument eventually died down. Zoravar entered the main building and sat next to the head priest. A few minutes later, the Plaintiff entered the main building and approached Zoravar. He tried to justify his actions. Zoravar told the Plaintiff that he did not want to get involved any further. The Plaintiff then asked Zoravar why he got involved in the first place. Zoravar told the Plaintiff that he felt such incidents should not take place in the temple. The Plaintiff turned aggressive. He asked, “who are you”. Zoravar gave him his name. The Plaintiff retorted, “so?” and called him” “stupid” and a “kaypoh”, which is a colloquial term for busybody. The Plaintiff walked away and stepped into the lift. As he was turned away, he cursed at him and said, “you go and die. You are a bastard”. Zoravar stood up and walked to the Plaintiff who was inside the lift. He told the Plaintiff to mind his words and that he had enough of him. The Plaintiff walked out of the lift, stared at him and challenged him by asking what he was “going to do about it”. He asked the Plaintiff who he was. The Plaintiff refused to reveal his name. Zoravar was really upset but did not wish to escalate matters. He walked away.

The Plaintiff’s wife, Sarjit Kaur d/o Atma Singh (the “Plaintiff’s wife”) filed an Affidavit of Evidence-in-Chief (“AEIC”) corroborating the Plaintiff’s account. She concurred that Shamoo suddenly shouted “you and your family will die in the accident while travelling in your car”. She also testified that Shamoo challenged the Plaintiff to a fight. The Plaintiff’s wife was shocked by Shamoo’s behaviour. She did not want the confrontation to escalate and proceeded to the prayer hall. Shortly afterwards, the Plaintiff joined her at the prayer hall. According to her, the Plaintiff told her about his encounter with Zoravar.¹⁵

Shamoo also testified at trial. His testimony was adduced orally because it transpired that he did not read the AEIC when he signed off on it. Parties agreed for him to give oral testimony in place of his AEIC. As he was proficient in neither English nor Punjabi, but more proficient in English than Punjabi, I proposed for him to give his evidence in English with a Punjabi interpreter on standby. Parties had no objections to this approach. In the end, he did not require the assistance of the Punjabi interpreter.

Shamoo’s testimony was largely consistent with Zoravar’s. Shamoo highlighted that the Plaintiff asked why he was taking money. Shamoo explained that there was nothing wrong with him taking money when people gave it to him. He said the Plaintiff called him a “bastard” and “idiot”. The Plaintiff threatened to call the police, to which Shamoo said he could do so since he did not do anything wrong.

After the incident, the Plaintiff lodged police reports against both Zoravar and Shamoo on the same day.

Against Zoravar, he alleged that:¹⁶ Zoravar suddenly raised his voice, and they had an argument. Zoravar “violently came towards [him] when [he] was taking the lift to prayers hall at level 3”. He understood Zoravar was from the “Marine police”. At that time, there was no reason for Zoravar to be “sitting at the counter with one of the priest without safe distancing”. ...