Is fighting back a physical altercation?, See the high-speed rail "dominating seats and hitting people" again
Recently,
"Female high-speed rail refused to change seats and was beaten by three people"
Hot search on related topic frequency.
On September 14th,
On the G2610 high-speed railway from Taiyuan South to Tianjin West,
A woman refused a man's request to change seats,
The other party repeatedly knocked on their seat afterwards.
Ms. Nie, the party involved, stated that
After self reminder,
Received insults and beatings from three others.
On the 16th, a police report was issued.
How to interpret police reports?
Many netizens have raised doubts about the police report.
The first point of doubt is the description of the incident reported by the police. According to the police report, the cause of the incident was referred to as "a quarrel over trivial matters", without mentioning the incident of "being refused to change seats and subsequently knocking on the seats".
Ms. Nie, the party involved, claimed to have been insulted and beaten by three others. The police report only mentioned that the couple of passengers Tian and Zhang were involved in the conflict. The police did not classify the conflict between the two sides as "assault", but pointed out that "both sides had physical conflicts, and both sides had varying degrees of hand scratch injuries on their bodies.".
The second point of doubt is about the behavior of dominating the throne. Some netizens claim that a man who first takes someone else's seat and then proposes to change seats, and then takes actions such as knocking after being rejected, is known as "seat bullying" behavior. But the qualitative nature of this behavior needs to be recognized by relevant departments.
Questioning point three is whether the incident will be deemed as "mutual assault". During this year's May Day holiday, the incident of a female high-speed rail being slapped and classified by the police as a physical altercation has attracted attention.
A woman posted a video claiming that she was repeatedly hit by a bear child in the back seat while riding a high-speed train during her vacation. She tried to stop it, but was insulted and slapped by the bear child's family. When both parties went to Chengdu Railway Police for mediation, the police fined the woman 200 yuan and the child's parents 500 yuan in accordance with the law for "hitting each other with their hands.".
At that time, netizens were puzzled by the belief that "fighting back turned into physical altercation", and some also raised questions about how to respond if beaten.
However, this report is only a preliminary report made by the police based on the current situation, and the truth urgently needs to be clarified.
At present, the railway public security has intervened in the investigation. We need to have a clear explanation as soon as possible about the cause, process, and outcome of the matter. If it is an elderly person who fails to dominate the throne and instead beats others, it must be dealt with strictly according to the law and will never be tolerated.
High speed rail bullying and assault are both illegal
From a legal perspective, high-speed rail bullying and assault are both illegal.
The behavior of those who dominate seats on high-speed trains violates two layers of legal relationships: firstly, they violate the contractual agreement with the railway company, that is, they should "seat according to the number of tickets purchased";
The second is that it infringes on the right of use of the overbooked passenger, resulting in other passengers having tickets and being unable to take their seats. The behavior of the overbooker not only constitutes a breach of contract, infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of other passengers, but also disrupts the traffic order in public places, which is considered illegal behavior.
According to the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments, those who disrupt the order of public transportation such as buses, trams, and trains shall be given a warning or fined up to 200 yuan; Those with serious circumstances shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan. Repeated insults and threats to others, causing negative social impact, may also constitute the crime of provoking trouble.
Both the Public Security Administration Punishment Law and the Criminal Law classify seat bullying behavior as an illegal and criminal act that endangers transportation order and operational safety within the scope of handling provocations and disturbances.
Some lawyers believe that if Ms. Nie is beaten, even without a disability assessment, administrative penalties can be imposed. In the current situation, the parties involved can claim compensation from the hitter for their own damages, including medical expenses, nursing expenses, lost work expenses, etc. According to the provisions of the Criminal Law, those who intentionally harm the body of others shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance. If the injured party is minor, the hitter may be sentenced to detention or control. Those with minor injuries may face administrative penalties for public security management.
Why are high-speed rail hubs repeatedly banned?
It is common knowledge even children know that taking a train requires presenting a ticket and matching the seat number. Those who dominate the throne knowingly violate social rules, indicating their disregard for social norms and weak awareness of public morality and law.
The phenomenon of bullying continues to persist, and the fundamental reason is that the illegal cost of bullying is too low, and law enforcement agencies impose too little punishment on bullying. The People's Court Daily once pointed out in an article that high-speed rail is not a legal vacuum zone, and the phenomenon of overcrowding must be severely punished in accordance with the law. Because the dignity of the law is challenged and social rules are shaken.
On high-speed trains, passengers who encounter violent behaviors such as wrestling and tearing are generally not seriously injured and rarely meet the criminal punishment standards for intentional injury. Most cases are concluded with warnings, fines, and public security detention, and there are very few cases where one party beats and the other party does not fight back.
In response to the incident of a woman being slapped on a high-speed rail during this year's May Day holiday, the Ministry of Justice's official WeChat account "China Law Popularization" once claimed to correctly clarify the boundary between legitimate defense and mutual assault.
Scholars have pointed out that the "50 major challenges each" and the overly emphasis on reconciliation in handling cases by relevant agencies may be legal, but they are absolutely unreasonable. Moderate retaliation does not belong to mutual assault and should not be punished for retaliators. The outcome of this incident may become a barometer for punishing the "high-speed rail incident", and more people should be given the courage to stand up and stop bad behavior and illegal infringement.
How should ordinary people cope?
Our Civil Code explicitly prohibits passengers from occupying their seats.
If an ordinary passenger encounters a overbearing seat, they can first go directly to the carrier department staff. The carrier should take effective measures to stop the overbearing behavior, promptly inform the overbearing person of the precautions, require them to return their seat, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the passenger.
Secondly, if the overbearing behavior is not stopped even after being dissuaded by the carrier and staff, the crew members or staff can be required to report the case in a timely manner, and if conditions permit, evidence can be preserved through recording or video recording. If there is a situation where the responsible person fails to act, they can file a lawsuit with the people's court to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
How should passengers respond correctly when subjected to violence on high-speed trains?
The lawyer explained that the correct approach when being violated is to avoid harm first; If the other party does not stop infringing, in this case, while ensuring their own safety, promptly report to the police for handling; Even if we want to retaliate, we must have a limited degree of effort to stop the other party's illegal infringement.
To do a good job of retaining evidence of being beaten, relevant video recordings or photos can be taken on the spot to preserve the evidence. If there are cameras around, you can apply to the public security organs to extract information about the camera hitting someone.
Several lawyers have stated that when being illegally infringed upon by others, it is important to maintain a calm mind. In a rule of law society, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" is highly unacceptable. It's not that others take action first, and if you do it yourself, it will definitely not violate the law. As long as there is subjective "initiative" and "illegal infringement", allowing the infringement results to be tolerated, it is highly likely to be recognized as "mutual assault", and the party who takes action later will also bear corresponding legal and compensation responsibilities.
Source: CCTV Comprehensive Upstream News, Litchi News, CCTV News, Jiangsu Radio and Television, Sichuan Legal Daily, Rednet, Jimu News, People's Court Daily
