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)