Man fined a pig and a bottle of liquor for touching another man's penis against his will

A man in central Vietnam has asked for police help after several people threatened him for refusing to pay a fine levied by local ethnic Co community leaders for touching another man's penis against his will. The alleged offender was identified only as 36-year-old T of Quang Ngai Province’s Binh Son District.

He was rescued by police unharmed and without having to pay the fine of a pig and a jar of liquor. The incident happened when T was dredging a hill side to make terraced rice paddy in Tra Vinh Commune in Quang Ngai Province’s mountainous district of Tay Tra.



While waiting for a mechanic to come to fix some problem with his machinery, T saw a man, identified only as 40-year-old D, passing by and asked him to sit for a chit-chat. During the talk, T said he touched D’s penis just for fun because he was wearing shorts. But D took it serious and said that T had to pay the local fine of a pig and an alcohol jar saying it is the custom of the Co people that mature men do not touch other men's penises.

T said he was not aware of the custom and insisted that D just wanted to make up the rule. After failing to explain the rule to T, D went back to his village and returned later with six strong men, threatening to beat him for breaking the rule. T phoned the commune police who rescued him from the villagers.