A separate case filed by Kaushigan in Singapore’s magistrates’ court was struck out last month for abuse of process, and the woman’s lawyer said she was ordered to pay Kaushigan’s legal costs. In that lawsuit, they sought about $17,000, alleging that the woman violated the “offer” that included the “offer room.” [Kawshigan] to share inspiration, struggles and achievements” and “meeting based on mutual availability beyond coffee settings.”
The woman argued The suit seeking $17,000 was an abuse of process because it was “brought for a frivolous purpose” to compel him to “comply with his demands, among other things, to resume communication with him.”
The lawsuit explains Challenge faced by women around the world: Men sometimes feel entitled to their love. “Women do not give men their time or attention, much less their friendship, love, sexual activity or emotional labor,” Aware Singapore, which advocates for women’s rights and gender equality, said in a statement regarding the lawsuit. “To compel or attempt to compel these matters through legal means or otherwise may constitute harassment.”
Singapore is ranked 49th in the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, making it the country with the second highest level of gender equality in Asia after the Philippines. Japan has long struggled with gender-based income inequality, and whispers of feminism in South Korea can provoke sharp outrage. Yet, like many other developed nations, Singapore struggles with sexism and misogyny, such as the prevalence of incels, or involuntarily celibate, anti-feminist men.
A magistrates court ruling said Kaushigan first met the woman in a “social setting” in 2016. “Over time, their friendship grew, but problems began to arise” in September 2020, “as they were misaligned in how they saw their relationship.”
The woman saw Kaushigan as a friend, but Kaushigan considered her his ‘close friend,'” according to court documents. She asked to see Kaushigan less often, upsetting him. Such a move would “take a step back” in their “relationship,” she said. Saying that boundaries need to be set, Kaushigan urged them to be “self-reliant”.
Kaushigan, according to the ruling, “didn’t respond well to this.”
He sent the woman in October 2020 a threat of legal action for damages caused by “emotional distress and possible defamation”. She told Kaushigan that she was really uncomfortable. He threatened that if she did not comply with his demands, she would face “harm to her personal and professional endeavours”.
According to court documents, the woman agreed to attend counseling sessions with Kaushigan, who fended off his legal threats. But after about 1½ years of counseling, she felt the exercise was pointless, she said, because Kaushigan “couldn’t agree on her reasons for not wanting any relationship or association with him.”
She obtained a restraining order against Kaushigan, then filed suit in magistrate court while the other case was pending.
Kaushigan said in an email that he would not comment until the case is decided because “important proceedings are still ongoing.” Kaushigan represented himself in both cases, according to court records.
Siuan Chen, an assistant professor of law at the Singapore Management University, said Kaushigan’s claim “probably has no merit”.
“Substantially, the damage suffered could be either a contract or a claim,” he said, adding that the ruling in the Magistrate’s Court showed that “neither can be established”.
