W

omen'€™s rights activists have lambasted the Pasar Minggu Police for not detaining a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman on a foot bridge in South Jakarta, saying their inaction would likely be a stumbling block to the case making its way to court.

The police released the man, a student identified only as AA, on Saturday after he was brought to the Pasar Minggu Police office for questioning about the offense against the woman, identified only as AS, on the Jati Padang foot bridge after getting off a Transjakarta bus on Saturday morning.

The suspect has been charged under Article 281 of the Criminal Code on indecent acts that violate social norms, which carries a maximum sentence of two years and eight months in prison.

Uli Pangaribuan of the Legal Aid Institute of the Indonesian Women'€™s Association for Justice (LBH APIK) said that by releasing the suspect it would likely be harder for the Pasar Minggu Police to proceed with the sexual assault case. '€œBy not detaining the perpetrator, there'€™s no guarantee that he will comply with police summonses in the future,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

As such, Uli said, the police would possibly find it difficult to find the suspect in order to complete his case dossiers in the future.

Responding to the concerns, the Pasar Minggu Police insisted that its move was in line with the prevailing legal procedures, saying that it would still press ahead with investigating the sexual assault case.

'€œThe police couldn'€™t detain the perpetrator as he only faces a maximum prison sentence of two years,'€ Pasar Minggu Police chief Doddy F. Sanjaya said.

Article 21, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) stipulates that a suspect may only be detained if they face a prison sentence of five years or more. However, Article 21, paragraph 1 of the KUHAP stipulates that detention may be imposed if there is reason to believe the suspect might flee justice or tamper with evidence.

Aside from facing hurdles due to the police'€™s unwillingness to detain the perpetrator, activists said the Pasar Minggu Police would have difficulty collecting adequate evidence due to the nature of such cases.

'€œSexual assault cases usually leave no physical evidence, so it is hard for police investigators to provide proof,'€ Khusnul Anwar, another activist with LBH APIK, told the Post on Monday.

Thus, it was also necessary for the Pasar Minggu Police to strengthen its investigation into the case by including the results of an evaluation of the psychological state of the victim as evidence, he said.

On Saturday morning, the suspect was on the same Transjakarta bus as the victim. As the woman got off the bus, he followed her and allegedly assaulted her on the foot bridge.

The victim screamed and a Transjakarta officer at the bus shelter gave chase. A nearby on-duty traffic police helped to detain the suspect, who was later brought to the Pasar Minggu Police office.

In 2014, LBH APIK received 704 reports of various kinds of sexual violence against women, down from around 992 cases recorded in the previous year. (alm)