Next time, Don't Spit

[Dv8ted2]

source

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Spitting in public is common in India but doing so on the public landed an Indian police constable in southern Andhra Pradesh state in hot water.

Police said Friday that K.R. Rao spat on students demonstrating against a rise in tuition fees for engineering colleges this week, provoking further protests by outraged parents and their children in Warangal town.

The outcry forced the police to take action against Rao, who has served in the force for seven years, suspending him on half-pay for three months.

"The incident is a black spot on the image of the people-friendly police in this district," said Warangal Superintendent of Police Stephen Ravindra.

He will remember not to spit next time.

[jimmalenko]

Spitting on someone is right up there as one of the most degrading things you can do to someone IMHO.

[ZAPPER]

I have heard urban legends that spitting at someone was assult and spitting on them was assult and battery.

Now when I was in High School one of our projects was to find old and obscure laws. Someone actually found laws pretaining to spitting on pavement and around women folk. And to make matters worse I think the fine was like 12 cents or so.

[offline]

the fine was like 12 cents or so.

..yeah..well..like that could add up to some serious change
if you had the flu.

[ZAPPER]

Back in 1906 that might have been a pretty steep fine!

[guns1inger]

A man has kust been sentenced to 3 months prison for assult for spitting in the face of a bank manager when he refused to hand over an amount of cash that was greater than the banks daily limit (i.e. they didn't have it all on hand, and the man hadn't warned them he would be in to withdraw it). Apparently the man grabbed the bank manager, turned him around and spat in his face.

Ref : http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19824617-2862,00.html

[adam]

I have heard urban legends that spitting at someone was assult and spitting on them was assult and battery.

Its not an urban legend, its still true today in all US states. Most people just think that assault and battery are criminal terms but they also apply to the civil law of torts. In tort law you can still plead common law torts, and under the common law a battery is simply any unwanted contact that does harm, and an assault is putting someone in reasonable fear of a battery. So spitting on someone would be an assault and battery (assuming they saw it coming, otherwise its just a battery) and spitting at someone could constitute an assault. They won' t go to jail but you can get money damages.

Assault and battery in criminal law really have mutated to a point where the names don't mean anything. In many statutes assault is used to mean a battery...basically a physical attack of some kind. Like punching a police officer is usually called, "assaulting a peace officer." And for a true assault, just a threat, its usually called terrorism.