Observers slam rape case panel proposal
Observers slam rape case panel proposal
JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer and a judge lashed out at a government
plan to issue a regulation that requires at least one judge on a
three-member panel trying rape cases to be a woman. They said on
Sunday the scheme may breach a fair and honest trial.
"It's not about gender... but how the judges can make honest
and fair decisions.
"Judges, whether men or women, must hand down verdicts
according to their conscience," Tumbu Saraswati said.
She was commenting on a proposal raised by State Minister for
Women's Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa last Wednesday that at
least one of the three-member judges on rape cases be a woman.
Tumbu, also a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) legislator
from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction, said
the decree would not assure that female judges would rule in
favor of rape victims.
"I have observed many rape cases in which female judges were
not in favor of the victims. So instead of establishing a
regulation which will harm the prosecution and promote gender-
biased verdicts, the government should create circumstances so
that the trials are held fairly," she said without elaborating.
A female judge at the Central Jakarta District Court, Endang
Soemarsih, shared Tumbu's opinion, saying that the move would
only lead to rampant gender discrimination here.
Though acknowledging that there was an unwritten agreement in
court that a female judge be included on a panel of judges on
every rape case, Endang, however, disagreed with the planned
decree.
"Such a regulation is against the spirit of antigender
discrimination," she said at her office on Jl. Gadjah Mada in
Central Jakarta last Thursday.
Endang said she did not want the antidiscrimination campaign
to be weakened by such a regulation.
"Khofifah's statement is a setback. It will raise gender
discrimination among judges," said Endang, who has worked as a
judge for 18 years.
Meanwhile, a female activist, Ratna Sarumpaet, underlined the
importance of establishing a law that would protect the interests
of rape victims.
"The judges will find difficulties in handing down fair
sentences on rape cases if the law fails to accommodate the
interests of rape victims," she said separately on Sunday.
She said gender discrimination should not be a problem as long
as the rights of rape victims were protected.
"To get raped is a traumatic experience. If judges fail to
accommodate a victim's interest, namely by not imposing tough
sentences on convicted rapists, the feelings will worsen," she
said. (asa)