Daljeet Kaur Dharam Chand, 35, an Indian-origin woman who lives in Singapore, is going to prison for 1 year and 7 months for causing a fire in her flat that she shared with her boyfriend. The blaze injured the boyfriend, named Premraj Ragoo, also about 35, and left him with permanent burn scars.
The incident occurred in September 2021, the conviction of Daljeet took place in March 2024 following a trial, and her sentencing was done yesterday. She was convicted of one of count of rashly contributing to the risk of causing a fire.
According to the case report in The Straits Times, Daljeet had caused the fire to start through her rash actions after a major fight with Premraj. The two of them lived in a rented flat in Sembawang.
The fight was caused by the fact that Premraj was trying to end his relationship with Daljeet and move out of the flat.
ST reported that in a February 2024 submission to trial court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jonathan Tan said: “On Sept 6, 2021, the victim resolved to leave the flat and, in all likelihood, his relationship with the accused.”
When he decided to leave, the woman became angry and began pouring paint thinner, a highly inflammable chemical, on the floor. This was apparently meant to be a “stunt” to scare the man.
However, then Premraj staged his own stunt by snatching the chemical container from Daljeet and pouring some of it on himself. He was already intoxicated; the chemical fumes began making his dizzy and he soon passed out on the floor.
While Premraj was lying barely conscious, Daljeet lit a couple of matchsticks and dropped the lit matches on the floor, which was covered with the inflammable chemical.
The thinner immediately caught fire and the blaze raced up to thinner-covered Premraj, burning his back and buttocks.
During the trial, the defence lawyer claimed that it was Premraj who had started the fire, holding a lighter, and that Daljeet had dropped the lit matches after the fire had been started.
The court heard that Premraj could not afford surgery in Singapore to minimise the burn scars, and that he returned to his country — Malyasia — where he recovered only by bandaging the burnt areas of his body, incurring expenses of over RM2,000 (SGD 570).
