Charges against alleged rapist stand: Police

Charges against alleged rapist stand: Police

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta police yesterday said that
charges against a suspected rapist will not be dropped despite
the fact that the suspect had married the victim.

Lt. Col. S.Y. Wenas, the newly-appointed Central Jakarta
Police Precinct chief, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that
the alleged rapist was still under police supervision.

"I met and talked to him a few hours ago this afternoon in my
office," Wenas said yesterday. "He's still in Jakarta and his
case has not been dropped."

The dossier on the suspect, a married man before the rape
case, was handed over to the local prosecutors office on Feb. 29.

While waiting for the prosecutors to put his case on trial,
"the suspect was released but was told to come to the police
station when summoned," said Wenas.

Wenas said nothing about the marriage, which has sparked anger
in society, the Indonesian Women's Association For Justice in
particular.

Media reports said that Aswin was released by Central Jakarta
police and married the victim under police supervision at the
police precinct headquarters on March 4, two days before Wenas
was appointed new chief of the Central Jakarta police replacing
Lt. Col. Murawi Effendi.

When contacted by the Post via telephone yesterday, Murawi,
who was in Palembang as the new local police chief, said that he
had not received any reports from his staff about the marriage
between Aswin and the victim.

"The only thing I know is that the dossiers were handed over
to the prosecutors," Murawi said.

According to police common procedure, several days before the
replacement the precinct was commanded by the deputy of the local
police chief.

Maj. Bambang, Murawi's deputy at that time, could not be
reached for comments on the marriage, which many consider
illegal.

Lawyers of the rape victim, identified only as Hen, said that
Central Jakarta police officers had witnessed the marriage.

"As law enforcers, the police have violated the law," said
Rita Serena Kolibonso of the Jakarta Legal Aid Office (LBH).

Hen told Sri Mumpuni, another LBH lawyer, that she had also
signed a statement that she would drop charges.

"The police should know that as rape is not a case which can
be only investigated based on a victim's report; a marriage or a
signed statement has no effect on the processing of the case,"
Rita said.

Sri Mumpuni said the marriage, though it may be legal, was
obviously motivated by the hope that the victim would drop the
charges.

"The victim and her father came to us on Monday," she said.
"After the marriage which took place on March 4 at the police
station, they felt cheated because Aswin's family never showed up
again," she said.

The lawyer said Aswin and his family had talked Hen's family
into agreeing to the marriage.

The family approached Hen's family in Cianjur, West Java,
saying that Hen had been raped and was pregnant. Her parents were
ashamed and agreed to the marriage.

"But Hen was not pregnant," Hen's employer, Pertiwi, told the
Post. She had her period after the rape, she said.

The rape happened on Jan. 18 after Hen was taken by officers
of the Gambir district branch of the Central Jakarta office of
the city's security and order agency during a raid.

The raid was aimed at rustling up prostitutes and those
without identity cards.

Aswin was an acquaintance of one of the officers, who let him
rape Hen for Rp 10,000. The officer has been temporarily removed
from the security agency.

In response to an enquiry how cases such as this one could be
prevented, Kusaeni Budiantoro, the agency head, told reporters,
"Just stop writing about it."

However he added that he has repeatedly said the case should
be handled according to the law. (bsr/anr/04)