Poor procedures thwart rape cases prosecution

JAKARTA (JP): Many rape cases in the country cannot be prosecuted due to the lack of standardized examination and documentation procedures which are admissible as evidence in court, experts said on Thursday.

The chief of the National Police detectives unit, Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, said another factor complicating the prosecution of accused rapists was the social stigmatization felt by victims. Many women, overwhelmed by feelings of shame and embarrassment, refuse to testify in court.

The lack of a witness in a rape case also hindered the police investigation, Da'i told a seminar on forensic medicine held by the School of Medicine of the University of Indonesia.

Australian forensic expert Morris Odell said his homeland defined rape as "unlawful penetration of any parts of the human body, or by any foreign object into a vagina or an anus", which may or may not result in ejaculation.

Odell said that proving rape in adult victims was more difficult because there were likely to be fewer signs of forced penetration.

A procedure for building a rape case is to compile photographic evidence, including shots of the victim's genitalia. But Odell noted that the procedure was not endorsed by the medical code of ethics unless the results of the physical examination were queried.

Low quality

Budi Sampurno, head of the forensic department of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, concurred with Da'i and Odell.

"Aside from the reluctance of rape victims to testify, reports on the physical examination are usually inaccurate and not of a sufficient quality to be used as legal evidence," Budi said.

He recommended that a standard procedure for the physical examination and documentation of rape victims be introduced and integrated into a computer database, allowing for easy access and validity in legal prosecution.

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, regretted that many rape cases in the country went unsolved.

Stressing that sexual assaults should be regarded as a violation of human rights, he said that Indonesians should enforce stronger measures to prevent the crime and punish convicted rapists.

Rape became an issue of public debate following media reports that at least 68 women were gang-raped during the widespread riots in Jakarta and other cities in May 1998. Most of the women were ethnic Chinese.

Sexual assault and rape are reportedly common in the troubled provinces of East Timor and Aceh. Women's rights activists have castigated the government and law-enforcement officers for their denial of the problem.

Odell said the Australian government established a number of crisis centers to help rape victims deal with the trauma.

"In Melbourne alone, there are four centers which operate round-the-clock. Doctor and social workers are on call 24 hours." (04)