Section 309: Coercion by threat or force
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดข่มขืนใจผู้อื่นให้กระทำการใด ไม่กระทำการใด หรือจำยอมต่อสิ่งใด โดยทำให้กลัวว่าจะเกิดอันตรายต่อชีวิต ร่างกาย เสรีภาพ ชื่อเสียงหรือทรัพย์สินของผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจนั้นเองหรือของผู้อื่น หรือโดยใช้กำลังประทุษร้ายจนผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจต้องกระทำการนั้น ไม่กระทำการนั้นหรือจำยอมต่อสิ่งนั้น ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินสามปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหกหมื่นบาทหรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ถ้าความผิดตามวรรคแรกได้กระทำโดยมีอาวุธ หรือโดยร่วมกระทำความผิดด้วยกันตั้งแต่ห้าคนขึ้นไป หรือได้กระทำเพื่อให้ผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจทำ ถอน ทำให้เสียหาย หรือทำลายเอกสารสิทธิอย่างใด ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ถ้ากระทำโดยอ้างอำนาจอั้งยี่หรือซ่องโจร ไม่ว่าอั้งยี่หรือซ่องโจรนั้นจะมีอยู่หรือไม่ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หนึ่งปีถึงเจ็ดปี และปรับตั้งแต่สองหมื่นบาทถึงหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever compels another person to do any act, to refrain from doing any act or to submit to anything, by causing fear of harm to the life, body, liberty, reputation or property of the person compelled or of another person, or by using force so that the person compelled has to do that act, refrain from doing it or submit to it, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand baht, or both.
If the offence under paragraph one is committed with a weapon, or by five or more persons jointly, or in order to make the person compelled make, withdraw, damage or destroy any document of right, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht, or both.
If it is committed by claiming the authority of a secret society or a criminal association, whether or not that secret society or criminal association exists, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment of one to seven years and a fine of twenty thousand to one hundred and forty thousand baht.
Verified against the Thai source text, 6 November 2026
Firm annotation
Section 309 is the general coercion offence within the Title on offences against liberty. Its elements are: an act of compulsion (threat of harm to life, body, liberty, reputation, or property of the victim or a third person, or the use of violence) plus a result, namely that the victim actually does, refrains from, or submits as demanded. The threat may target the victim or someone else. The section is tiered: paragraph one is the base offence, paragraph two aggravates for a weapon, five or more offenders acting together, or coercion aimed at a document of right, and paragraph three applies where the offender invokes the authority of a secret society or robber gang. It is closely related to extortion under Section 337, but Section 309 does not require a demand for property or benefit, only compelled conduct or submission.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure runs from three years for basic coercion up to seven years for the secret-society or gang form. A practical point flagged by Section 321: only the first paragraph of Section 309 is a compoundable offence that can be settled to end the case, so aggravated coercion under paragraphs two and three cannot be discontinued by the victim withdrawing. In practice, coercion is frequently charged alongside heavier offences (rape, robbery, extortion) as part of the same course of conduct, and courts often treat overlapping charges as a single act punishable under the most severe provision. Common defences dispute whether the victim actually complied because of the threat, or whether words amounted to a genuine threat at all.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4391/2565 (2022)
Coercion under Section 309 can be committed by exploiting a position of authority and control over the victim, where the victim must obey the offender's commands out of fear and dependence.
The defendant held a position of authority over the victim, who was under his care and had to comply with his commands out of fear. The court treated the victim as a person placed under the defendant's power and found the defendant guilty of coercion under the first paragraph of Section 309, alongside sexual offence charges.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3861/2565 (2022)
Where armed coercion under Section 309 paragraph two is committed as part of the same act as an armed sexual offence, the conduct is a single act violating several provisions and is punished under the most severe.
The court found that the charge of coercing the victim and the charge of committing a sexual offence by force with a firearm arose from the same act. It held the conduct under Section 276 paragraph three and Section 309 paragraph two to be a single act constituting offences under several provisions of law.
Selected case summaries from the firm's research collection. Source links identify the materials used; they do not, by themselves, establish authentication against the official court record.
Cited in 213 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 5765/2561 (2018)
- Decision 10915/2558 (2015)
- Decision 22714/2555 (2012)
- Decision 14536/2555 (2012)
- Decision 6797/2555 (2012)
- Decision 2708/2554 (2011)
- Decision 213/2554 (2011)
- Decision 2385-2387/2554 (2011)
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 83 128
- Section 91 122
- Section 310 113
- Section 90 98
- Section 78 73
- Section 29 35
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across a fixed snapshot of the firm's corpus taken on 8 August 2026: 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The live corpus is larger and grows every week. 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 coercion under Section 309?
Forcing another person to do, not do, or submit to something by threatening harm to life, body, liberty, reputation, or property, or by using violence, so that the person actually complies.
Can a Section 309 case be settled and withdrawn?
Only the first paragraph (basic coercion) is compoundable under Section 321. The aggravated forms in the second and third paragraphs cannot be discontinued by settlement.
How is Section 309 different from extortion?
Extortion under Section 337 requires a demand for property or benefit. Section 309 covers compelled conduct or submission generally, without any property demand.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 309 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 309. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-309/ (accessed 15 November 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 309 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-309/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-309/"><p>Whoever compels another person to do any act, to refrain from doing any act or to submit to anything, by causing fear of harm to the life, body, liberty, reputation or property of the person compelled or of another person, or by using force so…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 309 (Thailand): <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-309/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.