Translation:Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 19), 2550 BE
Table of contents
Volume 124Issue 56A
Royal Gazette
19 September 2550
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Criminal Code Amendment
Act (No 19),
2550 BE
Bhumibol Adulyadej R
Given on the 31st day of July 2550 BE
Being the 62nd year of the present reign
His Majesty King Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej is pleased to give a Great Royal Command that it be announced as follows:
Whereas it is appropriate to amend the Criminal Code;
Therefore, by and with the advice and consent of the National Legislative Assembly, He is graciously pleased to enact the following Act:
Section1.This Act is called the Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 19), 2550 BE.
Section2.This Act shall enter into operation from the day following the day of its publication in the Royal Gazette onwards.
Section3.The dispositions of section 276 of the Criminal Code, which has been amended by the Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 5), 2525 BE, and section 277 of the Criminal Code, which has been amended by the ACriminal Code Amendment Act (No 8), 2530 BE, shall be repealed and replaced by the following dispositions:
“Section276.Whoever forcibly performs sexual intercourse with another person by threatening in any manner, by exercising forcible violence, whilst the latter is incapable of resistance, or by making the latter mistake him for a different person, shall be punished with imprisonment from four years to twenty years and a fine from eight thousand baht to forty thousand baht.
In paragraph 1, sexual intercourse means the act done to gratify the lust of the doer, in which the genital organ of the doer is used against the genital organ, anus, or oral cavity of another person or any other thing is used against the genital organ or anus of another person.
If the offence under paragraph 1 is committed whilst having or by using a firearm or explosive, or through a joint action characteristic of gang rape against a woman or action of identical characteristics against a man, the punishment shall be imprisonment from fifteen years to twenty years and a fine from thirty thousand baht to forty thousand baht, or imprisonment for life.
If the offence under paragraph 1 is committed between spouses and those spouses still wish to live and cohabit together as husband and wife, the court may impose a punishment lighter in any degree than that designated by the law or may designate conditions for supervision of behaviour instead of imposing a punishment. In the event that the court gives a judgment imposing imprisonment and either spouse does not wish to live and cohabit with the other as husband and wife any longer and wishes for divorce, that spouse shall notify the court and the court shall notify a public prosecutor to institute a divorce action.
Section277.Whoever performs sexual intercourse with a child still not older than fifteen years who is not his own wife or her own husband, whether with or without the consent of that child, shall be punished with imprisonment from four years to twenty years and a fine from eight thousand baht to forty thousand baht.
In paragraph 1, sexual intercourse means the act done to gratify the lust of the doer, in which the genital organ of the doer is used against the genital organ, anus, or oral cavity of another person or any other thing is used against the genital organ or anus of another person.
If the offence under paragraph 1 is committed against a child who is still not older than thirteen years, the punishment shall be imprisonment from seven years to twenty years and a fine from fourteen thousand baht to forty thousand baht, or imprisonment for life.
If the offence under paragraph 1 or paragraph 3 is committed through a joint action characteristic of gang rape against a girl or action of identical characteristics against a boy and without the consent of the girl or boy, or is committed whilst having a firearm or explosive or by using a weapon, the punishment shall be imprisonment for life.
As for the offence provided in paragraph 1, if it is committed by a person who is not older than eighteen years against a child who is older than thirteen years but still not than fifteen years with the consent of that child and the court later permits the two to marry each other, the offender shall no longer be required to undergo punishment. If the court permits the marriage whilst the offender is being punished for the offence, the court shall release that offender.”
Section4.The dispositions of section 286 of the Criminal Code, which have been amended by the Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 5), 2525 BE, shall be repealed and replaced by the following dispositions:
“Section286.Whoever, being older than sixteen years, lives on the income of a prostitute, even in part, shall be punished with imprisonment from seven years to twenty years and a fine from fourteen thousand baht to forty thousand baht, or imprisonment for life.
Whoever has no other apparent means of living or has no sufficient means of living and falls under any of the following circumstances shall be deemed to live on the income of a prostitute, save where he provides a satisfactory proof that it is not so:
(1)being together with or associating with one or several prostitutes habitually;
(2)being accommodated or receiving money or other benefit furnished by a prostitute;
(3)intervening to help a prostitute in his quarrel or dispute with his client.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a person receiving maintenance from a prostitute who is legally or morally obliged to provide such maintenance.”
Countersignature
General Surayud Chulanont
Prime Minister
Note: The grounds for promulgation of this Act are as follows: Whereas section 3 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim), 2549 Buddhist Era, protects all the human dignity, rights, freedoms, and equality which have been protected for the Thai people in accordance with the custom of the democratic administration of Thailand with a Monarch as Chief, but the provisions of sections 276, 277, and 286 of the Criminal Code give rise to unfair discrimination against persons by reason of sex-related differences, it is appropriate to modify the mentioned provisions in line with the principle of equal rights of men and women and the principle of prohibition of unfair discrimination against persons by reason of sex-related differences, which have been protected according to the custom of the democratic administration of Thailand with a Monarch as Chief. It is therefore necessary to enact this Act.
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