Section 312 bis: Aggravated penalties where the victim is a child or is harmed

Firm annotation

Section 312 bis creates no offence of its own. It is the aggravation ladder for two base offences: Section 310 bis, forced labour by deprivation of liberty, and Section 312, enslavement. Paragraph one deals with the age of the victim: where either offence is committed against a child not over fifteen years of age, the punishment becomes three to ten years and a fine not exceeding 200,000 baht. Paragraph two then grades by result, and it applies both to the paragraph one case and to the base offences themselves, so the result tiers are available whether or not the victim was a child. Where the person against whom the offence was committed suffers harm to the body or mind, the punishment is five to fifteen years and a fine not exceeding 300,000 baht. Where that person suffers grievous bodily harm, it is imprisonment for life or seven to twenty years. Where that person dies, it is death, imprisonment for life, or fifteen to twenty years. Two drafting points are worth noting. The result tiers qualify the underlying intentional offence and are not separate offences requiring intention as to the result. And the fines in paragraph two are stated as maxima only, with no floor, while the terms of imprisonment carry both a floor and a ceiling.