Section 283: Procuring for indecency by coercion
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเพื่อสนองความใคร่ของผู้อื่น เป็นธุระจัดหา ล่อไป หรือพาไปเพื่อการอนาจารซึ่งชายหรือหญิง โดยใช้อุบายหลอกลวง ขู่เข็ญ ใช้กำลังประทุษร้าย ใช้อำนาจครอบงำผิดคลองธรรม หรือใช้วิธีข่มขืนใจด้วยประการอื่นใด ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่ห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท ถ้าการกระทำความผิดตามวรรคแรกเป็นการกระทำแก่บุคคลอายุเกินสิบห้าปีแต่ยังไม่เกินสิบแปดปี ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่เจ็ดปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต ถ้าการกระทำความผิดตามวรรคแรกเป็นการกระทำแก่เด็กอายุยังไม่เกินสิบห้าปี ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่สองแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือประหารชีวิต ผู้ใดเพื่อสนองความใคร่ของผู้อื่น รับตัวบุคคลซึ่งมีผู้จัดหา ล่อไป หรือพาไปตามวรรคแรก วรรคสอง หรือวรรคสาม หรือสนับสนุนในการกระทำความผิดดังกล่าว ต้องระวางโทษตามที่บัญญัติไว้ในวรรคแรก วรรคสอง หรือวรรคสาม แล้วแต่กรณี หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๑๒ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person, procures, seduces or takes away a man or a woman for an indecent purpose, by deceitful means, by threat, by violence, by unjustly exercising influence, or by any other means of coercion, shall be liable to imprisonment from five to twenty years and a fine from one hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht.
Where the offence under paragraph one is committed against a person over fifteen but not over eighteen years of age, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from seven to twenty years and a fine from one hundred and forty thousand to four hundred thousand baht, or to imprisonment for life.
Where the offence under paragraph one is committed against a child not over fifteen years of age, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from ten to twenty years and a fine from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht, or to imprisonment for life, or to death.
Whoever, in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person, receives a person who has been procured, seduced or taken away under paragraph one, paragraph two or paragraph three, or supports the commission of that offence, shall be liable to the punishment prescribed in paragraph one, paragraph two or paragraph three, as the case may be.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 283 sits in the Title on Offences Relating to Sexuality and targets the coerced procurement of a person for an indecent act to serve a third party's desire. Its core elements are the purpose of gratifying another's sexual desire, an act of procuring, luring, or taking away, and the use of a prohibited means: deception, threat, violence, undue influence, or other coercion. The penalty is graduated across three tiers by the victim's age, with the child tier (not over fifteen) reaching life imprisonment. It contrasts with Section 282, which covers procuring for an indecent act to satisfy the offender's own desire, and with Section 284, which reaches taking a minor for indecency even with consent; in practice it is frequently charged together with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure under Section 283 is severe: the base range starts at five years and reaches life imprisonment where a child under fifteen is involved, and the use of deception, threat, or coercion is the element the prosecution must prove. Because the section is routinely bundled with trafficking and anti-prostitution charges, a person facing a complaint should map exactly which statutes and which paragraph (by victim age) are being invoked, since each carries a different minimum. Anyone facing or considering such a complaint should take early advice through an online consultation with a Thai lawyer to assess the coercion element and any age-tier dispute.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 1824/2565 (2022)
Procuring a person for an indecent act by coercive means under Section 283 is commonly prosecuted together with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act.
The prosecution sought punishment under Section 283 paragraph one together with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act; the trial court found the defendants guilty under Section 283 paragraph one.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 60 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2022)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 4057/2560 (2017)
- Decision 6552/2559 (2016)
- Decision 10449/2556 (2013)
- Decision 6215/2556 (2013)
- Decision 8867/2554 (2011)
- Decision 8170/2544 (2001)
- Decision 2297/2544 (2001)
- Decision 2997-2998/2544 (2001)
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 83 42
- Section 91 40
- Section 90 34
- Section 282 29
- Section 310 23
- Section 78 22
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
What is the penalty under Section 283?
The base penalty is imprisonment from five to twenty years and a fine. It rises to seven to twenty years where the victim is over fifteen but not over eighteen, and to ten to twenty years or life imprisonment where the victim is a child not over fifteen.
How is Section 283 different from Section 282?
Section 282 covers procuring a person for an indecent act to gratify the offender's own sexual desire, while Section 283 covers procuring by coercive means to gratify the desire of another person.
Is consent a defence under Section 283?
The section requires a coercive means such as deception, threat, violence, undue influence, or other coercion, so genuine free consent negates that element; however, where the victim is a child the age-based tiers still apply.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 283 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 283. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-283/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 283 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-283/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-283/"><p>Whoever, in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person, procures, seduces or takes away a man or a woman for an indecent purpose, by deceitful means, by threat, by violence, by unjustly exercising influence, or by any other means of coercion, shall be…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 283 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-283/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.