First of all, I offer my moral support to the women for their courage to come forward to police to file complaints against former Democrat deputy leader Prinn Panitchpakdi for alleged sexual harassment or assault, notwithstanding that the alleged offences were committed some time ago.
In the meantime, it should be noted that the accused in this case is, according to the law, still innocent until proven guilty.
As such, he should be treated fairly just as his alleged victims, his family as well as the Democrat Party or its members.
Any attempt to link the scandal with the Democrat Party for being complicit in the alleged crime or for failing to carefully check the background of the accused before his appointment as deputy leader is unfair.
We don't blame a company if one of its staff, years after his employment, was found to be a criminal, do we?
Thanks to the unusually quick police response to the complaints filed against Mr Prinn by three alleged victims, the matter made progress in just a few days, with enough evidence to seek a court warrant for the arrest of the accused.
Because of the accused's social status and pressure from social media, the police may have felt the heat.
Otherwise, a case of this nature, sexual harassment or assault, will have taken months to wrap up.
Criminal lawyer Decha Kittiwittayanan said the alleged victims must have strong evidence to prove they did not consent to the sexual advances of the accused because the alleged offence took place in privacy and there were no witnesses.
He also noted that the statute of limitations of a case related to sexual assault or rape is three months.
In the end, he said there may only one recent case that can be brought against the accused.
A lawyer, Yaowalak Anuphan, once said it is difficult to bring a rape case to court because of police attitudes.
She cited a case, about two decades ago, when she represented a woman who was raped by a State Railway of Thailand official, saying the case was passed back and forth between the Noppawong railway police and the Crime Suppression Division police for years.
Thanks to the intervention of a women's foundation, the accused was indicted by public prosecutors about two years after the rape took place.
Things have changed for the better as far as police are concerned, partly due to pressure from social media.
But not in a courtroom, where the alleged victims will face their tormentors and their lawyers will try every tactic during cross-examination to taunt, insult or dehumanise them to prove that their clients are innocent and that the acts were consensual.
Here is a statement from a rape victim, although made some years ago, that still reflects the courtroom reality victims still face today.
The victim named Kwan was raped on a night train travelling from Bangkok to Chumphon province.
During her case, she said she felt she was raped for a second time in the courtroom.
"Every question raised by the defence lawyer hurt and insulted a woman's dignity. Questions such as how big or long were the accused's genitals," she recalled.
She said stiffer penalties against offenders will not discourage men from committing rape because the offences were mostly committed when men had lost their conscience.
According to lawyer Yaowalak, discretion by judges is also important in determining the verdict in rape cases.
She cited two rape cases, one which took place in a short-time motel and the other in a car.
Although the first court found the accused in both cases guilty, the Appeals Court reversed the sentences on the ground the offences could not have happened in a car or in a motel without the consent of the victims.
The offence of rape, according to the amended Penal Code, is defined as an act when a private part of a person is inserted into the sex organ or anus of another.
It also encompasses oral penetration, instead of just a male's genitals as specified in the old law.
Although the Penal Code was amended to increase the maximum penalty for rape to death, preventing rape or other forms of sexual assault is not easy because most cases are committed by the victims' family members, neighbours, friends or acquaintances.
According to figures compiled by the Paveena Hongsakula Foundation in 2020, there were 863 cases of rape, of which 43.2% were committed by acquaintances or friends; 30% by family and 5.6% by neighbours.
More importantly, strangers were more likely to be convicted.
Of the cases pending with police against Mr Prinn, all three victims knew the accused through a business association or used to work with him. But the accused has denied the charges.
But as lawyer Decha has warned, the cases must be watertight to have a chance in the court.
Whatever the outcome of Mr Prinn's court cases, sexual violence -- be it rape, assault or harassment -- must not be tolerated.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.
