Section 277/2: Aggravated rape causing grievous harm or death
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าการกระทำความผิดตามมาตรา ๒๗๖ วรรคหนึ่ง หรือมาตรา ๒๗๗ วรรคหนึ่งหรือวรรคสอง เป็นเหตุให้ผู้ถูกกระทำ (๑) รับอันตรายสาหัส ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่สามแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต (๒) ถึงแก่ความตาย ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษประหารชีวิต หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต
English translation
Where the offence under Section 276 paragraph one, or Section 277 paragraph one or paragraph two, causes the person against whom it was committed:
(1) to suffer grievous bodily harm, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years and a fine from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht, or to imprisonment for life;
(2) to die, the offender shall be liable to death or to imprisonment for life.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 277/2 is the top result-aggravated tier of the rape offences. It applies where the base offence is already an aggravated form, namely armed or gang rape under Section 276 paragraph two, or armed or gang rape of a child under Section 277 paragraph three, and that offence then produces grievous bodily harm or death. Because both the aggravated base offence and the serious result are required, the penalties are the most severe in the group: fixed life imprisonment for grievous harm and the death penalty for death. This provision parallels Section 277/1, which covers the same results for the non-aggravated base offences, and it relies on the definition of grievous harm in Section 297 and on a proven direct causal link between the offence and the result.
Why this matters in practice
This is the most serious band in the rape provisions, and the penalty for a resulting death is fixed at the death penalty, so the stakes could not be higher. Two things must both be proven: that the base offence was an aggravated form (weapon or gang commission), and that the grievous harm or death was a direct result of it. Causation and the aggravating facts are therefore the decisive issues, and the offence is not compoundable. Given the severity, anyone connected to a case under this section should consult a Thai lawyer without delay.
Cited in 15 Supreme Court decisions (1983 to 2022)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 6816/2554 (2011)
- Decision 6290/2537 (1994)
- Decision 857/2536 (1993)
- Decision 19960/2555 (2012)
- Decision 6991/2549 (2006)
- Decision 2577/2563 (2020)
- Decision 5497/2552 (2009)
- Decision 2313/2545 (2002)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 276 12
- Section 78 10
- Section 91 7
- Section 277 6
- Section 90 6
- Section 288 6
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
How is Section 277/2 different from Section 277/1?
Section 277/1 aggravates the basic rape offences by their result, while Section 277/2 applies where the base offence is already an aggravated (armed or gang) rape and carries the harshest penalties, up to the death penalty for a resulting death.
What must the prosecution prove under Section 277/2?
It must prove both that the base offence was an aggravated form of rape and that the grievous harm or death was a direct result of that offence.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 277/2 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 277/2. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 277/2 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/"><p>Where the offence under Section 276 paragraph one, or Section 277 paragraph one or paragraph two, causes the person against whom it was committed: (1) to suffer grievous bodily harm, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years and a fine…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 277/2 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.