Partygoer arrested in Thailand for 'obscene' act

A female reveller has been arrested for dancing topless at a festival party in Thailand.

Maneerat Butwilai, 26, was seen gyrating on top of a table while half naked during a Songkran water party in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok on April 9.

The footage shows the party-goer in black hot pants dancing and laughing while surrounded by other locals as high-energy music plays in the background.

However, shocked locals reported the video to police and Maneerat was hauled into the county station on Tuesday, April 11.

Maneerat blamed the heat, with temperatures rising to 40 degrees in recent weeks.

"I'm sorry for causing offence. I don't normally do this. I was drunk and that day it was very hot, so I took off my top. I think I had heat stroke, too," she said.

"I didn't know that people were recording me. I would not have behaved like that. I will not do it again."

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Maneerat was fined 5,000 Baht (A$216) for public obscenity before being released. The nightclub owner, Ong-art Nantachan, 33, was fined 20,000 Baht (A$866) after cops found he did not have a licence to operate the venue.

Police Colonel Noppadol Changruen, superintendent of the Muang Samut police, confirmed the incident took place at 11pm on April 9.

"Many people reported the video saying they were outraged by the woman's behaviour," he said.

Under Section 388 of Thailand's Criminal Code, "any person who performs such a disgraceful act in public by undressing himself, exhibiting his undressed person or committing any other act of obscenity shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred baht".

The Buddhist festival Songkran, which takes place every year from April 13 to April 15, sees the country's businesses close down while inhabitants splash each other with water to bring prosperity for the coming year.

However, the once-sedate festival has spawned into an alcohol-fuelled orgy of round-the-clock water fights across the country's major cities, with hundreds of thousands of tourists joining in the chaotic debauchery.

Ministers have urged locals not to drink and drive while officials in Bangkok have designated different areas of the city according to the intensity of the activities.

- Viral Press/Australscope

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