A Phu Yen Province court is handling a case in which a woman in Tuy An District took legal action against a major at the district police for ordering an unlawful examination of her corset in October 2012. The plaintiff, 24-year-old Tran Thi To Loan, has demanded that Major Vo Van Thai pay her a compensation of 10 months of minimum wage, or VND11.5 million (US$540), the Tuy An District People’s Court said. The young woman also claimed that both Thai and a representative of the police district must make public apologies to her. The incident that led to the suit occurred on October 27, when police officers escorted Loan, along with her three sisters, to the district police to report an incident between them and another local woman, H., who said Loan snatched a necklace from her.

H. told police that Loan stashed the item in her corset.

At 11 pm that day, Loan was in the office writing a report about the clash when Major Thai, deputy head of the social crime investigation police team, entered the room, along with another police officer and H. Thai then ordered Loan to face the wall and pull up her shirt so H. could search her corset for the necklace. Thai and his male colleague witnessed the search, but nothing was found in the corset. Loan later lodged a complaint to the provincial police opposing Thai’s humiliating act. On January 3, 2013, Major General Pham Van Hoa, director of the provincial Police, issued a statement confirming that Thai committed several wrongdoings in the case. Firstly, Thai asked H. to examine Loan’s corset while he had yet to obtain an order to do so by an authorized official. Secondly, such an examination must be done by a female police officer, not by a common resident like H. Lastly, such an examination must be recorded in a report, but Thai failed to do so. With such acts, Thai violated two articles of the Criminal Procedure Code, the statement says. Major General Hoa said he has ordered the district police to give a warning to Thai and transferred him to another unit, pending a trial by the court.