LCQ6: Indecent assault cases on public transport
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Question:
In recent years, there have been sporadic cases of indecent assault on public transport which arouse public concern. On the other hand, there are views that physical contact between individuals is difficult to be avoided in crowded vehicle compartments and could be mistaken for indecent assault. Moreover, society's expectations for safety, comfort and mutual respect among passengers on public transport are increasing. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of indecent assault cases occurred on public transport that the Police received in each of the past five years, and the percentage of these cases out of the total number of cases occurring on public transport; the number of convictions among these indecent assault cases; whether it knows the average time taken by the courts to adjudicate these indecent assault cases; and
(2) whether it will consider introducing women-only or men-only zones or compartments on public transport mass-carriers (e.g. the MTR and franchised buses); if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Police attach great importance to all cases involving sexual offences and are dedicated to investigating each of them thoroughly, with particular focus on offences taking place on public transport. At present, sexual offences occurred on public transport are mainly indecent assault cases (i.e. offence of indecent assault under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200)), for which offenders shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for 10 years. There are also cases of voyeurism and unlawful recording or observation of intimate parts (commonly known as "upskirt photography"), both of which carry a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment under the Crimes Ordinance.
The Police will continue to strengthen patrols by uniformed and plain-clothes officers in relevant areas, and will work closely with public transport operators to jointly combat indecent assault and its related offences on public transport. In parallel, the Police will step up publicity and education efforts to enhance public awareness and encourage members of the public to report crimes.
In consultation with the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the reply to the Member's question is as follows:
(1) In the past five years, the number of reports received by the Police on sexual offences occurred on public transport/interchanges/transport stations, including offences of indecent assault, voyeurism and unlawful recording or observation of intimate parts under the Crimes Ordinance, accounted for about seven per cent to 21 per cent of all offences occurred on public transport. Please refer to the Annex for details. For the first five months of 2025, the Police received a total of 141 relevant reports, which accounted for about 14 per cent of the total number of offences occurred on public transport/interchanges/transport stations.
The Government maintains neither a breakdown on the number of convictions of the above sexual offences by place of occurrence nor relevant statistics on the time taken by courts to adjudicate such cases.
(2) As to whether women-only or men-only zones or compartments shall be introduced on various mass public transport modes (such as MTR and franchised buses), a number of considerations are relevant. The public transport system in Hong Kong carries a total patronage of more than 11 million passenger trips daily, with the MTR and franchised buses being the main travelling means handling over 5 million and 3.7 million passenger trips per day respectively.
The MTR is one of the railway systems with the most frequent services in the world. In 2024, the heavy rail and light rail operated over 2.71 million trips, with train services reaching about one train in every two minutes during peak hours.
The MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) has made reference to some overseas experience but assessed that it would not be appropriate to introduce women-only or men-only compartments in the MTR network. At present, during peak hours, the MTR system is generally crowded at platforms (especially at interchange stations), and the MTRCL has to make good use of the space on platform as well as inside train compartment to ease the passenger flow. Introducing dedicated train compartments would affect the management of passenger flow at stations and platforms, as well as the flow of passengers between train compartments. In addition, most of the MTR train compartments are of open design and it is operationally difficult to control passengers to follow the arrangement. Therefore, the MTRCL has no plan at this stage to introduce dedicated train compartments.
To prevent crimes of indecent assaults in the railway premises, the MTRCL has put up posters at stations to step up the promotion of anti-crime messages on indecent assaults. Passengers are encouraged not to remain silent, and report incidents or crimes of indecent assaults immediately to the Police or station staff. The MTR station staff are properly trained to assist the Police in combating crimes. In addition, the MTRCL and the Police hold regular anti-crime meetings to share information about the latest crime trend and intelligence, and to deliberate on specific strategies to combat crimes. The MTRCL also organises publicity activities in collaboration with the Police (including regular anti-crime publicity activities organised annually) so as to raise passengers' anti-crime awareness.
In respect of franchised buses, many routes have high occupancy rates during peak hours. As there is limited space in the compartments and passengers board and alight in the same aisle, setting up dedicated areas inside the compartments will affect the passenger-carrying efficiency of buses. In addition, it will be operationally difficult to ensure that passengers follow the arrangements. Franchised bus companies will co-operate with the police to enhance efforts in combating crimes.
Ends/Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:36
Issued at HKT 14:36
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