Police in Vietnam's Dak Lak Province have received positive comments from the public after they had three students make thut dau for their traffic violations, instead of applying common punishments.

The term thut dau refers to a penalty, commonly applied to children in Vietnam, in which the punished sit down and then stand up repeatedly, with their right hands holding their left ear-laps and vice versa.

This kind of punishment was applied by two police officers in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak to three middle school students after they caught them riding an electric bicycle without wearing crash helmets.

The incident happened on Hung Vuong Street in the province’s capital city of Buon Ma Thuot on Thursday morning.

After stopping the three students, the policemen explained their violations of the road traffic law and then required each of them to do thut dau 20 times.

After the students completed their punishment, the police officers warned them not to repeat such offenses.

Such traffic violations should have been reported to their school and parents, who would be required to pay a fine, said Lieutenant Colonel Ly Van Ket, a senior police officer.

The two policemen opted for the penalty as a replacement to save them adverse effects on their psychology, Lt. Col. Ket said.

“Such flexible treatment is more persuasive as it is educationally better while also serving as a warning to the violating students,” the official further explained.  

Le Kim Khanh, a witness, said she was sitting in a café near Buon Ma Thuot High School when she saw the two police officers giving the three students such a penalty.

She then filmed the scene and posted it on her Facebook account.

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