- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As enacted)
This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).
(1)If a person (“A”), intentionally and for a purpose mentioned in subsection (3), sends, by whatever means, a sexual written communication to or directs, by whatever means, a sexual verbal communication at, another person (“B”)—
(a)without B consenting to its being so sent or directed, and
(b)without any reasonable belief that B consents to its being so sent or directed,
then A commits an offence, to be known as the offence of communicating indecently.
(2)If, in circumstances other than are as mentioned in subsection (1), a person (“A”), intentionally and for a purpose mentioned in subsection (3), causes another person (“B”) to see or hear, by whatever means, a sexual written communication or sexual verbal communication—
(a)without B consenting to seeing or as the case may be hearing it, and
(b)without any reasonable belief that B consents to seeing or as the case may be hearing it,
then A commits an offence, to be known as the offence of causing a person to see or hear an indecent communication.
(3)The purposes are—
(a)obtaining sexual gratification,
(b)humiliating, distressing or alarming B.
(4)In this section—
“written communication” means a communication in whatever written form, and without prejudice to that generality includes a communication which comprises writings of a person other than A (as for example a passage in a book or magazine), and
“verbal communication” means a communication in whatever verbal form, and without prejudice to that generality includes—
a communication which comprises sounds of sexual activity (whether actual or simulated), and
a communication by means of sign language.
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Text created by the Scottish Government to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Acts of the Scottish Parliament except those which result from Budget Bills.
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