Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $5002008$2,5002008, or with both.
Section history
Section 186 — Obstructing public servant in discharge of his public functions
Consolidated view is experimental and may be broken for certain provisions.
Amendments
Section 186 — Original text to 1 January 2020superseded
Section 186 — From 1 January 2020 (current)restructured by Criminal Law Reform Act 2019
A person who voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of the public servant’s public functions, shall —
(a)in the case of an individual, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both; or
(b)in any other case, be punished with fine which may extend to $10,000.
(1)A person who voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of the public servant’s public functions, shall —
(a)in the case of an individual, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both; or
(b)in any other case, be punished with fine which may extend to $10,000.
(2)For the purposes of this section, an obstruction may be caused other than by the use of physical means or threatening language by a person against a public servant.
Illustration
A group of paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force intends to take the lift to the 30th storey of a block of flats to reach a person suffering from a heart attack. A decides to play a prank on the paramedics by telling them that the lift has broken down, knowing this to be false. The paramedics took the stairs because of what A told them and reached the person 15 minutes later than if they had taken the lift. A has voluntarily obstructed the paramedics in the discharge of their public function.