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Police behave 'improperly' in rape investigation
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Protestors carry posters against sexual violence during Car Free Day at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on May 15. (Antara/Teresia May)
T
he Jakarta Police have made the details of the investigation into the rape allegation from an intern at the Central Jakarta municipality office public. They divulged personal and forensics information to the local media on Tuesday, while casting doubt on the credibility of the victim's story.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said they had analyzed three CCTV recordings and found that the man accused of raping M, the intern, was not at the building at the time of the alleged rape.
“From the CCTV recordings, we found A was in a hotel in Tanah Abang. He was with his two colleagues working on a land issue at the hotel,” Awi said as quoted by kompas.com.
High school student M, 17, reported that A, assisted by H and Y, raped her on the sixth floor of the building at about 12 p.m. From witness testimony, the police said they found that H was not on duty and at his house, while Y was not on the sixth floor at that time.
The police said they questioned 21 colleagues who confirmed the findings.
Awi said the police confronted the victim with H and Y but M did not recognize either of them, she only recognized A.
During a forensics examination, he said the police also did not find any “new injuries” that could indicate she had been raped.
Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University’s School of Law in Yogyakarta, said the police’s move to confront the victim with the accused men was very improper in dealing with sexual violence cases. “They should refer the victim to psychological counseling,” she told thejakartapost.com.
She said the police were obliged to find sufficient evidence, but there was the possibility that the police had discovered evidence that did not confirm the victim’s account.
Sri, who was a lawyer at the Legal Aid Foundation of Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK), said for young victims, inconsistent reports were possible.
“Perhaps the same event happened with the same person but at a different time, or there was another event the victim associated with the event she reported to the police. For the victim’s best interest, especially for young victims, the police should investigate the case with sensitivity and they should not have divulged the process to the public,” she said.
“Especially if the disclosure created a stigma for the victim,” Sri went on to say.
Last week, M’s parents reported a man identified as A, a civil servant at the Central Jakarta municipal office to the police. The victim said she was assaulted by three men during a lunch break in an empty room in the municipality building. They made her unconscious and when she woke up, she found herself naked in the room.
