Section 43: Filing for preventive detention
Statutory text (Thai original)
การฟ้องขอให้กักกันเป็นอำนาจของพนักงานอัยการโดยเฉพาะ และจะขอรวมกันไปในฟ้องคดีอันเป็นมูลให้เกิดอำนาจฟ้องขอให้กักกันหรือจะฟ้องภายหลังก็ได้
English translation
The filing of a prosecution seeking preventive detention is exclusively the power of the public prosecutor, and it may be filed together with the case in which the preventive detention is sought.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 43 sits in the Book on Punishments and Measures of Safety and governs who may seek the safety measure of preventive detention. It reserves that power to the public prosecutor alone, so a private prosecutor or injured person cannot ask the court for detention as a safety measure. The request may be joined to the main prosecution or, by implication, brought in connection with it. Preventive detention is a measure of safety distinct from the ordinary punishment of imprisonment, aimed at habitual offenders.
Why this matters in practice
If you are a private complainant, you cannot ask the court for preventive detention; that request rests solely with the public prosecutor, so raise the concern with the prosecution rather than filing it yourself. For anyone facing a detention request, note that preventive detention is a safety measure imposed on top of the sentence and turns on a record of habitual offending. Early advice from a Thai lawyer helps assess exposure before charges are joined.
Cited in 12 Supreme Court decisions (1957 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 10076/2558 (2015)
- Decision 1367/2533 (1990)
- Decision 2226/2524 (1981)
- Decision 24/2513 (1970)
- Decision 827/2500 (1957)
- Decision 5681/2544 (2001)
- Decision 3912-3913/2533 (1990)
- Decision 2642/2528 (1985)
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 78 7
- Section 91 5
- Section 33 4
- Section 41 3
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
Who can request preventive detention in Thailand?
Under Section 43, only the public prosecutor may file for preventive detention. A private complainant or injured person cannot ask the court for this safety measure.
Can the detention request be filed with the main criminal case?
Yes. Section 43 allows the prosecutor to file the request for preventive detention together with the case in which detention is sought.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 43 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 43. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-43/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 43 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-43/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-43/"><p>The filing of a prosecution seeking preventive detention is exclusively the power of the public prosecutor, and it may be filed together with the case in which the preventive detention is sought.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 43 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-43/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.