Yesterday, a delivery driver filed a police complaint after he was sexually harassed by a customer in Nonthaburi province in central Thailand last week.
The young driver waited more than one week to submit his evidence to police because he was scared he would be arrested for violating Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), a law introduced in June which made using the personal data of others without permission a punishable offence in Thailand.
On September 13 at 1pm, 19 year old Suphakit, who is a university student and part-time delivery driver, received a request to deliver a pad thai to a house in a “luxury village” in Bang Kruai district.
Suphakit arrived at the house to find all the lights off. He rang the male customer to let him know he had arrived, who asked him to come into the house to deliver the food. However, Suphakit told him he couldn’t enter the house due to company policy. He would have left the order outside, but the customer hadn’t yet paid for his food.
The customer finally came outside wearing only his underwear. To Suphakit’s dismay, the customer got his genitals out to show the driver and started to masturbate. Then, the male customer – who the driver said was in his 30s – ran back inside the house and said he would be right back.
Suphakit said he heard the customer “moaning” inside the house. Suphakit said he wanted to leave but couldn’t get out of the village unless his card was stamped by the customer. So, Suphakit got his phone out ready to take pictures as evidence.
The customer ran back outside stark naked and continued masturbating in front of the driver. The driver said it went on for about five minutes until he saw the customer “finish” masturbating.
Then, the customer paid the 200 baht for his pad thai. The driver said the customer tipped him 100 baht before thanking him and saying he would use the service again.
Traumatised Suphakit said he hasn’t made any deliveries since the incident because he is too scared of what he might see. In the two years he has worked as a delivery driver, he said he has never seen anything like this.
Suphakit said he no longer feels safe being a delivery driver after the experience. He posted the photos in a delivery driver group online to warn other drivers to be wary of sexual harassment on the job.
The driver didn’t go to the police until more than a week after the incident because he was scared he himself would be in trouble with the law. In June, Thailand’s PDPA law came into effect with the goal of protecting the public’s data. Under the law, people are required to obtain consent to use people’s personal data, e.g. photos.
However, the public are still permitted to take photos of others if it “protects the public interest”, which in this case, it clearly does.
SOURCE: Sanook