T

he National Police have detained a 51-year-old priest for allegedly molesting seven minors since 2009.

The head of subdirectorate III at the police'€™s detective division, Sr. Comr. Umar S. Fana, told reporters that the married priest was arrested on Wednesday in Surabaya, East Java, following a police report filed by one of the alleged victims.

The case is currently being investigated by the East Java Police.

'€œA 51-year-old priest with the initials GI has been detained as a suspected pedophile. The acts were allegedly committed at the suspect'€™s house and in his car,'€ Umar said at the police headquarters on Thursday.

Umar explained that the seven victims were relatives of GI who had been brought in groups from Nias in North Sumatra to Surabaya between 2009 and 2015 for education and work opportunities.

Once they started school or gained employment, GI allegedly asked them to repay him with sex.

'€œHe threatened to have them kicked out of school or to kill them if they refused to obey,'€ Umar said.

The seven victims are five girls aged 8 to 21 and two boys, both aged 15. The police have temporarily placed them in a safe house.

Meanwhile, the head of the East Java Police'€™s women'€™s, children'€™s and teenagers subdirectorate, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton, said that the alleged victim who had reported the case, known only as F, claimed that she had been sexually abused by GI since she was 15. Two of the other alleged victims are her sisters.

GI could be charged with child sexual abuse under the 2002 Child Protection Law and could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Several high-profile child abuse cases made headlines last year, including the sexual abuse of a student at the Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) by five contracted cleaners.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded 900 cases of child sexual abuse in 2015, which decreased from 1,267 cases the previous year.

Following numerous reports of child sexual abuse, the government announced it was considering introducing chemical castration for sex offenders through a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu), aiming to prevent repeat offenses and deter further abuse.

Unlike surgical castration, chemical castration involves the administration of anti-androgenic drugs to reduce sexual urges, compulsive sexual fantasies and the capacity for sexual arousal.

The drugs are given in the form of injections every three months and the castration is reversible when treatment is discontinued. There are, however, lasting side effects.

Chemical castration laws are in force in a number of US states and other countries including South Korea, Moldova, Russia and Estonia.

Despite protests from rights activists, KPAI chairman Asrorun Niam Sholeh said chemical castration was an essential addition to child protection in the country.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has taken a firm stance in formally opposing the plan to punish sex offenders using chemical castration.

The commission argued that the penalty was not only against human rights, but would not be effective in reducing sex crimes.