Puan Urges Prosecution of 16 UI Law Students in Sexual Harassment Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani has called for the students involved in the sexual harassment case at the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Law (FH UI) to be processed and tried.

“There must be no sexual violence anywhere, and we certainly reject sexual violence anywhere, and it must be tried fairly,” Puan stated at the House of Representatives building on Thursday (16/4/2026).

Puan was responding to the alleged online sexual harassment case involving 16 FH UI students against 27 victims.

Therefore, educational institutions must be able to provide guidance while ensuring a safe environment.

“And how the world of education must also provide education in the world of education; the university must be able to provide and maintain all of that to ensure fairness and prevent it from happening again,” she said.

She encouraged all parties to speak out boldly so that similar cases do not recur.

“It must be evaluated, then everyone must speak, must dare to speak about this, and there must be no sexual violence anywhere,” she concluded.

As many as 16 FH UI students have admitted to committing online sexual harassment against 27 victims through conversations in WhatsApp and LINE groups.

Chair of the FH UI Student Executive Board (BEM) Anandaku Dimas Rumi Chattaristo said the admissions were made directly by the perpetrators.

“The apologies were conveyed by the 16 perpetrators. And regarding their status, they all admit to their actions,” Dimas said on Monday (13/4/2026).

“Most of the forms were messages that demeaned, with a sexual nuance,” he added.

The Faculty of Law UI itself has expressed strong condemnation of the incident.

“The faculty strongly condemns all forms of behaviour that demean human dignity and contradict legal values and academic ethics,” stated the official statement from the Faculty of Law UI on 12 April 2026.