Police: Viral Video of Student Being Stomped in Bogor Was 'Initiation' into Perpetrator's Gang

The cause was that the victim wanted to join their group, so it was a kind of initiation, just carried out in that manner. There were seven people in the video, and the victim, identified as R, wanted to enter their group. There was no other issue that triggered the assault; it was simply a requirement for joining their group, according to the police.

Similar information was conveyed by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the East Bogor Police. Based on preliminary statements, the perpetrators claimed that the assault seen in the viral video was a tradition for new candidates of the BRAK gang, the name of the perpetrators’ association. As of now, it appears the victim wanted to join the perpetrators’ group, and according to them, there is a tradition for new entrants—an initiation, as they call it. There is no other problem or motive; he just wanted to join the gang, so it was a form of introduction.

The group is known as the BRAK gang or BRAK base, a cross-school hangout group. Police moved quickly to investigate the viral incident of the assault against a fellow vocational school student in Baranangsiang, Bogor City, and have detained six perpetrators. The suspects have been secured and the case is now being handled by the Women and Children Protection Unit of the Bogor City Police Criminal Investigation Division.

Police stated there were seven students, including the victim, recorded in the viral video. They came from two vocational schools in Bogor City and knew each other. The perpetrators were from different vocational schools, though one attended the same school as the victim. Regarding a uniform shirt found at the scene, investigations revealed it had merely been placed there and did not belong to the victim or the perpetrators.