Recourse, when Hurt is Cause
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Recourse, when hurt is caused
A debate over whether to make offence sizeable
Ansley Ng
THE number of reports of voluntarily causing hurt has gone up — from 5,500 in 2005 to 8,288 last year — but the authorities say there is no need to make the offence a seizable one — where the police can step in to make an arrest without a warrant.
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Doing so would tie down police resources and hamper their services in other areas, said Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee..
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim had asked if the ministry would review the classification of "voluntarily causing hurt" (VCH), as a non-seizable offence, especially if the victim sustained injuries that needed treatment.
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"If I were to scratch Associate Professor Ho's car, it would be vandalism and seizable. But if I punched him in a private capacity and his nose bled, it's not seizable," she told the House.
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There have been more "violent and stranger" incidents, she said, citing the case last month in which an American sailor allegedly attacked a man at a car park in Wheelock Place in an apparent drunken rampage. The victim, a 36-year-old communications manager, needed four stitches to his face.
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"Under the Penal Code currently, you need to be emasculated, to have bone fractures or be out of action for about 20 days before grievous hurt is made out," said Ms Lim, a former police officer.
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"Are we setting so high a tolerance for violence?" she asked. And did the significant spike in reported cases not "suggest that tougher action needs to be taken"?
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Assoc Prof Ho said aggrieved parties do have recourse, since VCH covers a wide range of behaviour and different degrees of hurt. "Cases where hurt is not serious are best resolved without extensive police involvement," he said.
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But if one party wishes to pursue the matter, the police will advise him or her to take out a magistrate's complaint.
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A magistrate may direct the police to further probe the case, which was done in about 10 per cent of the reported VCH cases.
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"In some cases, the victim may suffer injuries which, though falling short of being grievous as defined by the law, may still require hospitalisation," he said. "In such cases, the police may consider initiating action."
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When asked if the police treated VCH offences against public officers, such as bus captains and car park attendants, differently, he said they have every reason to initiate action in such cases, so as not to "undermine (these people's) ability to perform their public service".
A debate over whether to make offence sizeable -
... as you can see, the reason given is so lame... they'd rather allow such violent incidences of Assault to rise, than put extra workload on the Police Force?
... what the fark are the people being Taxed so much for?? To keep the Police Force's workload light??
... As Sylvia illustrated; lets try striking an MP and see if it is seizable or not... -
The article is well written and will provoke important questions. Thank you for posting it.
I can understand wanting the convenience of making one phone call and having all that taken care of for us and I'd like to share my thoughts on that.
Freedom equals responsibility.
Responsibility equals the power to make choices that affect you.
Making someone else responsible equals giving away part of that freedom.
There is only so much freedom you can give away before you effectively become a slave.
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. -
I hope that the MPs would get their acts together
While one recognised that school bullying is a problem...Dr Neo;
another do not see beating up people is a seizable offence...AP Ho.
These school bullies are going to grow up and feels that is alright to beat up the public later on in life...so which side do we stop at the root cause
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Originally posted by dragon_stone:I hope that the MPs would get their acts together
While one recognised that school bullying is a problem...Dr Neo;
another do not see beating up people is a seizable offence...AP Ho.
These school bullies are going to grow up and feels that is alright to beat up the public later on in life...so which side do we stop at the root cause 
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... "Quality Leadership" mah....