Assault and battery both are very common terms used in the sector of crime. Both are considered a crime, and if any person commits any of them, they must get punishment for their bad deeds as per law.
People often get confused to differentiate these terms when they try to file a report. If we want to draw the line of their difference in small words, we can say that the term assault indicates those acts of threat. In contrast, battery indicates the actual act of hurting someone except the threats.
For a better understanding of these two concepts, we have collected all the essential information to clear out all your confusion.
Let’s have a look at them:
What is the act of assault?
It indicates the threat of doing any harm. The harm can be physical or mental also. Suppose in one fine morning you are getting ready to out and suddenly you hear the voice of your neighbour screaming out your name loud.
Hurriedly you came out of your home and saw your neighbour standing with a sharp weapon constantly threatening to kill you.
Here, you see that your neighbour is only threatening you instead of doing any harm to you at that moment. In this situation, you call it an act of assault.
In this case, the neighbour will also get punished if you report a case against him, depending on the gravity of the threats. Assault vs battery Canada law is very strict in this regard.
Delaying in taking a step in the case of assault may result in something very bad. So, sitting idle at home even after getting constant threats would be a mistake and a very unwise thing to do.
Example of assault
- Verbal abusing
- Racist comments
- Sexual orientation revealed without consent
- Verbal threats
- Threats of killing
- Aggravated sexual assault
What is the act of battery?
We can call an act battery if the culprit intentionally aims to harm someone physically without the knowledge of the victim that they are going to be attacked by someone or someone is going to harm them. In this case, to name it an act of battery, physical contact is a must thing.
In assault, the culprit does the act with the intention of threatening an individual, but in battery, the intention is always centred on harming the victim.
Suppose one day you are travelling through a public bus and someone intentionally touches you in an inappropriate place of your body.
This is clearly a case of sexual harassment, and this act will go under the term ‘battery.’ Pushing a bagger through the leg or beating them only because they are poor is also an act of battery.
Example of battery
- Rape
- Physical abuse
- Offensive contact
- Pushing someone from the rooftop
- Slapping
- Unwanted touch
- Inappropriate touch
The difference in punishment for assault and battery
If you are living in Canada, you must have a very clear idea about their strictness of them in regard to controlling the social rules and regulations.
And if you ever commit a crime like assault or battery in Canada, surely you will get punished for committing such kind of crime.
If an individual is found involved in the act of battery, they will get jailed for a very long period. And it can be up to as long as 10 years.
Nobody would ever want to lose this long time of their life by spending it in jail. It goes under the law section 267.
The physical harm in the case of the battery can be caused by any kind of weapon, and the injury may need treatment.
In assault cases, the punishment depends on the gravity of the threats given by the culprit to the victim. The person who will be found involved in the act of assault, to the highest, the culprit, will get jailed for up to 5 years.
Though the offenders get punished but what about the mental trauma of the victim? Sometimes they keep suffering from those trauma caused by assault or battery till the last breath of their life.
Final verdict
Both assault and battery are considered a crime, and the law has clearly announced that the punishment of this crime is inevitable. So, if you are facing any of these situations in your life, make sure to take legal help as soon as possible.
Laws were made to serve every member of the country equally. Hence, if you report about your sufferings on time, you will surely get justice.
