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recent string of rape cases has yet to shake things up in the country’s police forces, which still tend to delay responding to victims’ reports, leading to evidence that could be used to prosecute perpetrators going missing.

The family of ES, a junior high school student who committed suicide, presumably out of shame after allegedly being raped in Namo Rambe district, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, has turned to an advocacy group after their report on the case was neglected by local police.

“Before meeting us today, the family of the rape victim was approached by officers from the Namo Rambe Police asking the family to together change the police report again. This is strange because it was the police who have asked for the change in the report,” said Rurita Ningrum of North Sumatra People Against Sexual Violence (MSUAKS) when accompanying ES’ family to file a report at the North Sumatra Police headquarters on Monday.

ES, 14, of Batu Gemuk village, Namo Rambe district, reportedly committed suicide by drinking pesticides out of embarrassment after being raped by a neighbor late last month.

The victim’s family filed the rape report with the Namo Rambe Police, but the police recorded it as an attempted theft instead.

ES’ adoptive father, Nehen Sembiring, who had reported the rape to the Namo Rambe Police, said that he lodged the report on May 21, a few hours after the rape took place.

He brought along a number of pieces of evidence, including a cell phone, a T-shirt and a pair of sandals that the alleged rapist, MDP, 15, had apparently left in the victim’s room when trying to escape through the window.

Nehen said that despite reporting the rapist to the police in order to secure an immediate arrest, no arrest had been made.

“[MDP’s] parents came to our house two days after the incident to settle the case out of court, but we rejected them. We demanded the rapist be arrested,” said Nehen, adding that ES attempted suicide when the boy’s family came to his house.

An outcry broke out after revelations emerged of a gang rape of a teenage girl in Bengkulu that only became known weeks afterwards as the police were slow to investigate the case.

A nationwide uproar has led the government to issue a regulation that would impose chemical castration or even death sentences on convicted child rapists.

Despite the tough response from the government, the police have remained sluggish in handling new rape incidents.

The police are set to end their investigation into a case concerning a 19-year-old girl in Manado, North Sulawesi, who was allegedly gang raped by a group of men, including police officers.

“We only got the report from the victim’s parents four days after the incident took place [...] The victim’s underwear has been washed. It is hard to prove the case,” said National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar.

The police have also played down another case of alleged gang rape in Semarang, Central Java, in which a 12-year-old was reportedly the victim of six male individuals, five of them minors.

“What happened was an agreement, seduction [between the victim and the males]. In a rape case, there should be signs of force, but not in this case,” said Semarang Police chief Sr. Comr. Burhanudin.

Rurita said there was a long list of rape cases in which victims were unwilling to report to police because officers would ask them for money to pursue the legal process.

“The National Police chief should pay serious attention to this, especially in the law enforcement of cases of sexual violence,” she said.