Section 277 bis: 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 bis is a result-aggravated tier of the rape offences, and it attaches to the BASE forms, not to the armed or gang forms. The statute names Section 276 paragraph one, and Section 277 paragraph one or paragraph two, so it applies where an ordinary coerced rape, or sexual intercourse with a child not over fifteen or not over thirteen, then causes grievous bodily harm or death. Where the harm or death flows instead from the armed or gang tiers, Section 276 paragraph three or Section 277 paragraph four, the applicable provision is Section 277/3, which is harsher again. The penalties here are alternatives rather than fixed: for grievous bodily harm, imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years and a fine from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht, or imprisonment for life; for death, the death penalty or imprisonment for life. It relies on the definition of grievous bodily 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 bis different from Section 277 ter?
Section 277 bis attaches to the BASE offences: Section 276 paragraph one, and Section 277 paragraph one or paragraph two. Where one of those causes grievous bodily harm the penalty is fifteen to twenty years and a fine from 300,000 to 400,000 baht, or imprisonment for life; where it causes death, the death penalty or imprisonment for life. Section 277 ter attaches instead to the armed and gang tiers, Section 276 paragraph three and Section 277 paragraph four, and is harsher: death or life for grievous bodily harm, and death alone where the victim dies. If you are looking for a Section 277/1, there is none in this Code.
What must the prosecution prove under Section 277 bis?
Two things. First, that the base offence was one of those the section names: Section 276 paragraph one, or Section 277 paragraph one or paragraph two. These are the base forms, not the armed or gang forms, which belong to Section 277 ter. Second, that the grievous bodily harm or the death was a direct result of that offence. Grievous bodily harm takes its meaning from Section 297.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 277 bis (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 277 bis. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/ (accessed 10 September 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 277 ทวิ -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-277-2/ -
Embed on your site
<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 bis (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.