Section 174: Aggravated false accusation to officials

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 5151/2563 (2020)

   Reporting to an inquiry official based on a genuine belief, where the decision whether to charge rests with the official rather than flowing directly from the reporter's act, is not the offence of false reporting.

   The defendant reported to the inquiry official based on events that led him to understand the plaintiff should be prosecuted. Because the decision to lay a charge lay with the inquiry official and did not arise directly from the defendant's act, the Court held the conduct was not false reporting.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 1575/2563 (2020)

   The aggravated offence in Section 174 paragraph two, read with Section 181 (2), requires proof that the false information was given in order to cause someone to be punished. Where that intent is not proved, the conduct is only the offence of giving false information about a criminal offence to an inquiry official under Section 172, even though the offence in question carried death or imprisonment for life.

   The defendant gave false information to a police officer who was the inquiry official for a charge of premeditated murder. The Supreme Court held that, because Section 172 covers that conduct specifically, Section 137, the general provision, did not apply. It further held that the prosecution had not shown the defendant gave the false information in order to have the person concerned punished, so the offence was only the one under Section 172 and not the aggravated offence under Section 174 paragraph two with Section 181 (2).

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.