Section 297: Grievous bodily harm
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำความผิดฐานทำร้ายร่างกาย จนเป็นเหตุให้ผู้ถูกกระทำร้ายรับอันตรายสาหัส ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หกเดือนถึงสิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งหมื่นบาทถึงสองแสนบาท อันตรายสาหัสนั้น คือ (๑) ตาบอด หูหนวก ลิ้นขาด หรือเสียฆานประสาท (๒) เสียอวัยวะสืบพันธุ์ หรือความสามารถสืบพันธุ์ (๓) เสียแขน ขา มือ เท้า นิ้วหรืออวัยวะอื่นใด (๔) หน้าเสียโฉมอย่างติดตัว (๕) แท้งลูก (๖) จิตพิการอย่างติดตัว (๗) ทุพพลภาพ หรือป่วยเจ็บเรื้อรังซึ่งอาจถึงตลอดชีวิต (๘) ทุพพลภาพ หรือป่วยเจ็บด้วยอาการทุกขเวทนาเกินกว่ายี่สิบวัน หรือจนประกอบกรณียกิจตามปกติไม่ได้เกินกว่ายี่สิบวัน หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever commits the offence of bodily harm so that the injured person suffers grievous bodily harm shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to ten years and a fine from ten thousand to two hundred thousand baht.
Grievous bodily harm means:
(1) blindness, deafness, loss of the tongue, or loss of the sense of smell;
(2) loss of the sexual organs, or of reproductive capacity;
(3) loss of an arm, a leg, a hand, a foot, a finger or any other organ;
(4) permanent disfigurement of the face;
(5) miscarriage;
(6) permanent mental impairment;
(7) infirmity or chronic illness which may last for life;
(8) infirmity or illness causing suffering for more than twenty days, or preventing the person from carrying on his ordinary occupation for more than twenty days.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
The elements are those of Section 295 bodily harm plus a result that meets one of the eight statutory categories of grievous bodily harm in subsections (1) to (8). The definition is exhaustive, so an injury that does not fall within the list, however painful, is charged as ordinary bodily harm under Section 295 rather than as grievous harm. The penalty is markedly heavier than Section 295, carrying a mandatory fine alongside imprisonment. Where the grievous harm is committed with a Section 289 aggravating circumstance, liability moves up to Section 298.
Why this matters in practice
Whether an injury is grievous is the decisive practical question, and it often turns on medical evidence, for example whether the incapacity truly exceeded twenty days or whether disfigurement is permanent. Exposure jumps to a ten-year maximum with a mandatory fine, so downgrading the injury to ordinary harm under Section 295 is a central defence strategy. Where the same act breaches several provisions, the court punishes under the most severe one. Because the classification of the injury drives the sentence, a careful review of the medical record is essential.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 189/2567 (2024)
The owner of premises may lawfully turn out a group who are behaving in a way that risks a brawl. Where the person refused to leave, kept a knife behind his back and then walked towards the owner, a single shot at the arm holding the knife is an act done to defend his own rights lawfully, so there is no offence of causing grievous bodily harm under Section 297 (8).
The two defendants owned the shop where the incident occurred. The first defendant used a BB gun to frighten the injured person into leaving, and when he instead walked towards him holding a knife, fired a single shotgun round at the arm holding it. The Supreme Court held this lawful self-defence, not a fight entered into by choice, so no offence under Section 297 (8) was committed. It reversed the Court of Appeal Region 6, which had convicted the second defendant of joint grievous bodily harm and of firing a gun without cause in a town, and restored the judgment of the court of first instance.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 446 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 5335/2560 (2017)
- Decision 420/2560 (2017)
- Decision 218/2560 (2017)
- Decision 15667/2558 (2015)
- Decision 14499/2558 (2015)
- Decision 13648/2558 (2015)
- Decision 10816/2558 (2015)
- Decision 1600/2558 (2015)
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 288 211
- Section 80 209
- Section 83 194
- Section 78 188
- Section 295 166
- Section 91 132
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 counts as grievous bodily harm under Section 297?
Section 297 lists seven categories, including blindness, deafness, loss of an organ, permanent facial disfigurement, abortion, permanent insanity, and illness or incapacity lasting more than twenty days.
What is the penalty for grievous bodily harm in Thailand?
Under Section 297 the penalty is imprisonment from six months to ten years together with a fine from 10,000 to 200,000 baht.
If the injury is not on the list, is it still grievous harm?
No. The list in Section 297 is exhaustive, so an injury outside categories (1) to (7) is charged as ordinary bodily harm under Section 295, not as grievous harm.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 297 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 297. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-297/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 297 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-297/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-297/"><p>Whoever commits the offence of bodily harm so that the injured person suffers grievous bodily harm shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to ten years and a fine from ten thousand to two hundred thousand baht. Grievous bodily harm means: (1) blindness, deafness,…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 297 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-297/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.