Section 397: Bullying, harassment or nuisance

Firm annotation

The elements are any act done to another person that bullies, oppresses or harasses that person, or causes that person to be humiliated or annoyed. The section imposes no requirement that the act be done without reasonable cause; no such qualifier appears in the text and a complainant is not put to proof of it. Paragraph one is fine-only at up to 10,000 baht, while paragraph two makes commission in a public place or in the presence of others an aggravated form that adds imprisonment of up to one month. The present wording was substituted by Section 9 of the Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 30) B.E. 2568, in force 30 December 2568, and that substitution is the key to reading the section today: the same Act removed sexually-tinged conduct from here and created a dedicated offence of sexual harassment in Section 284/1, with the term itself defined in the new Section 1(19). Harassment that is sexual therefore belongs to Section 284/1, where the base exposure is a year and public or online commission carries three, and Section 397 is left as the residual provision for non-sexual bullying, oppression and nuisance. Harassment that is continuous or repeated and leaves the victim unable to lead a normal life is Section 284/1 paragraph two, not this section, and causing fear by threat is Section 392. The offence is not compoundable, and the Penal Code makes no petty offence compoundable. Section 398 is a separate offence of cruelty to a dependent child, sick or aged person, not a compounding provision.