Translation:Act Amending the Penal Code (No. 22), 2558 BE

by National Legislative Assembly of Thailand

Table of contents 

The Act

Preamble

Section

1. Title
2. Commencement
3. Amendment to §1: definition of "officer"
4. Amendment to §102: definition of "petty offence"
5. Insertion of §§366/1 to 366/4: offences relating to corpses
6. Amendment to rates of punishment for petty offences
7. Amendment to rates of punishment for petty offences
8. Amendment to §397: harassment
9. Amendment to rates of punishment for petty offences

Statement of grounds

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Seal of the Royal Command

Act
Amending the Penal Code (No. 22),
2558 BE

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Bhumibol Adulyadej R
Given on the 9th day of February 2558 BE
Being the 70th year of the present reign

Phra Bat Somdet Phra Paramin Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej gives a great royal command by which He orders with His pleasure that it be announced as follows:

Whereas it is appropriate to amend the Penal Code;

Therefore, by and with the advice and consent of the National Legislative Assembly, He orders with His gracious pleasure that the following Act be enacted:

Section⁠1.⁠This Act is called the "Act Amending the Penal Code (No. 22), 2558 BE".

Section⁠2.⁠This Act shall come into force from the day following the day of its publication in the Royal Gazette onwards.

Section⁠3.⁠The following stipulations shall be inserted in the Penal Code as (16) of section 1:

"(16)⁠"officer" means a person that the law prescribes to be an officer or has been appointed in accordance with the law to perform an official duty, whether on a regular basis or for an occasion and whether or not receiving remuneration therefor".

Section⁠4.⁠The stipulations of section 102 of the Penal Code shall be repealed and replaced by the following stipulations:

"Section⁠102.⁠A petty offence is an offence punishable with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section⁠5.⁠The following stipulations shall be inserted in the Penal Code as Title 13 Offences relating to corpses, section 366/1, section 366/2, section 366/3, and section 366/4 of Division 2 Offences:

"Title 13
Offences relating to corpses^[1]

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Section⁠366/1.⁠Whoever commits intercourse with a corpse shall be punished with imprisonment not over three years, or a fine not over sixty thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine.

The intercourse under paragraph 1 refers to the doing [of any act] for satisfying the desire of the doer, in which the sex organ of the doer is used against the sex organ, anus, or oral cavity of a corpse or any other thing is used against the sex organ or anus of a corpse.

Section⁠366/2.⁠Whoever indecency with a corpse shall be punished with imprisonment not over two years, or a fine not over forty thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine.

Section⁠366/3.⁠Whoever, without reasonable cause, damages, dislocates, destroys, depreciates, or causes to be useless a corpse, parts of a corpse, cremated bones,^[2] or ashes^[3] of a corpse, shall be punished with imprisonment not over three years, or a fine not over sixty thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine.

Section⁠366/4.⁠Whoever by any means commits an act which constitutes an insult to or desecration^[4] of a corpse, shall be punished with imprisonment not over three months, or a fine not over five thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section⁠6.⁠The rates of punishment under section 367, section 368, paragraph 1 and paragraph 2, section 369, section 370, section 371, section 372, section 373, section 374, section 375, section 376, section 377, section 378, section 379, section 380, section 381, section 382, section 383, section 384, section 385, section 386, section 387, section 388, section 389, section 390, section 391, section 392, section 394, section 395, and section 396 of the Penal Code shall be repealed and replaced by the following rates of punishment:

Section 367: "...shall be punished with a fine not over one thousand baht."

Section 368, paragraph 1: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over ten days, or a fine not over five thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 368, paragraph 2: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 369: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 370: "...shall be punished with a fine not over one thousand baht."

Section 371: "...shall be punished with a fine not over one thousand baht, and the court shall have the power to order confiscation of such weapon."

Section 372: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 373: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 374: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 375: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 376: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over ten days, or a fine not over five thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 377: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 378: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 379: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over ten days, or a fine not over five thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 380: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 381: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 382: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 383: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 384: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 385: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 386: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 387: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 388: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 389: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 390: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 391: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 392: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 394: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section 395: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section 396: "...shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht."

Section⁠7.⁠The rate of punishment under section 393 of the Penal Code, which has been amended by the Order of the National Administrative Reform Council No. 41 dated 21 October 2519 BE, shall be repealed and replaced by the following rate of punishment:

Section 393: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Section⁠8.⁠The stipulations of section 397 of the Penal Code shall be repealed and replaced by the following stipulations:

"Section⁠397.⁠Whoever bullies, oppresses, intimidates, or causes humiliation or nuisance^[5] to another person by any means, shall be punished with a fine not over five thousand baht.

If the offence under paragraph 1 is committed in a public place or in public or is characteristic of sexual molestation,^[6] it shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine.

If the offence under paragraph 2 is committed by taking advantage of the fact that the offender has superior power over the victim because of [his] relation [to the victim] as a commander, employer, or holder of other superior power, it shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month and a fine not over ten thousand baht."

Section⁠9.⁠The rate of punishment under section 398 of the Penal Code, which has been amended by the Act Amending the Penal Code (No. 8), 2530 BE, shall be repealed and replaced by the following rate of punishment:

Section 398: "...shall be punished with imprisonment not over one month, or a fine not over ten thousand baht, or both the imprisonment and the fine."

Countersignatory:
General Prayut Chan-o-cha
Prime Minister

Note: The grounds for promulgation of this Act are as follows: Whereas the trial of cases nowadays encounters disputes as to the meaning of the term "public officer", it is appropriate to designate a clear definition for the term "public officer". Moreover, [because] the Penal Code has not yet designated offences relating to corpses, that is, intercourse committed upon corpses, indecency committed upon corpses, causing of damage to corpses, and insult to or desecration of corpses, which violate the rights of family members, honour, and reputation [of the dead] as recognised by section 4 and section 35 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand,^[7] it is appropriate to establish provisions for the said offences. Furthermore, [since] section 397 of the Penal Code only deals with cases of bullying, oppression, or causing humiliation or nuisance in a public place or in public, which do not cover acts committed in a private place, acts of intimidation, acts characteristic of sexual molestation, and acts committed by taking advantage of the fact that the offender has superior power over the victim, it is appropriate to designate the said acts as offences in order to protect the rights of persons to privacy as also recognised by section 35 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand.^[7] In addition, [as] the rates of fine for petty offences are still not compatible with the economic and social conditions of the Country, it is appropriate to improve the rates of fine in line with the present situation. Therefore, it is necessary to enact this Act.

Notes

1. According to the Office of the Royal Society (2013), the term sop (Thai: ศพ), here translated as "corpse", specifically refers to a human corpse.
2. According to the Office of the Royal Society (2013), the term atthi (Thai: อัฐิ) means "human bone that has been cremated".
3. According to the Office of the Royal Society (2013), the term thao (Thai: เถ้า) means "ashes". Compare section 168 of the German Criminal Code, which says "Whoever, without being authorised to do so, takes the body or parts of the body of a deceased person, of a dead foetus or parts thereof, or the ashes of a deceased person from the custody of the person entitled thereto, or whoever commits defamatory mischief on them..." (Bohlander & Reusch, n.d.).
4. According to the Office of the Royal Society (2013), the term yiatyam (Thai: เหยียดหยาม), here translated as "to desecrate", means to treat with contempt. It is a combination of the words yiat and yam, both meaning "to look down on". In the English draft of the Penal Code (Office of the Juridical Council, 1950, p. 29/37), "vilify" was used for yiatyam.
5. Dueat-ronramkhan (Thai: เดือดร้อนรำคาญ), here translated as "nuisance", is a combination of the words dueat-ron ("trouble") and ramkhan ("annoyance"). In the English draft of the Penal Code (Office of the Juridical Council, 1950, p. 29/101), "agitation" was used for dueat-ronramkhan.
6. Literally, "or is an act that has a characteristic which [can be] understood in such a way that [constitutes] sexual molestation".
7. See Errata.

Bibliography

Original

• "Phra Ratcha Banyat Kaekhaiphoemtoem Pramuan Kotmai Aya (Chabap Thi Yisip Song) Phoso Song Phan Ha Roi Hasip Paet" [Act Amending the Penal Code (No. 22), 2558 BE]. (2015, 13 February). Ratchakitchanubeksa [Royal Gazette], 132(10A), 43–47. (In Thai).

References

• Bohlander, M., & Reusch, U. (n.d.). "Strafgesetzbuch" [Criminal Code]. 
• Office of the Juridical Council (1950). Archives Concerning the Revised Penal Code: Tome XXV (Microfilm). The Archives of the History of Thai Codification (in Thai). Bangkok: Thammasat University. OCLC 1228261634. 
• Office of the Royal Society (2013). "Photchananukrom Chabap Ratchabandittayasathan Photo Song Phan Ha Roi Hasip Si" [Royal Institute Dictionary, 2554 BE]. Office of the Royal Society of Thailand (in Thai).