A mobbed couple from Tangerang, West Java, is set to tie the knot next month in a mass wedding held by local police
mobbed couple from Tangerang, West Java, is set to tie the knot next month in a mass wedding held by local police.
The couple, identified only as R, 28, and M, 20, had a nikah siri (unregistered marriage) on Tuesday.
As the Tangerang Police planned to hold a mass wedding on Dec. 8 for the first time, they asked the couple whether they wanted to participate.
“We made them an offer [to participate] and they agreed to be included in the mass wedding,” said Balaraja Police chief Comr. Wiwin Setiawan on Wednesday.
He added that the mass wedding was initially set for only 103 couples, but the police were willing to include R and M.
Meanwhile, their nikah siri took place at R’s house in Kadu Agung subdistrict, Tangerang. It was a modest ritual attended only by family members, local police and administration officers, said the subdistrict’s head, Sulaeman.
Sulaeman, who also acted as one of the marriage witnesses, said the ritual went well and was attended by local figures from Sukamulya district in Tangerang to show their support for the young couple.
“They delivered speeches and apologized for what had happened [to the couple] because they felt a moral burden [from the incident],” Sulaeman said.
R and M were assaulted by a mob in Sukamulya subdistrict on Saturday night as they were accused of having sex outside of marriage at M’s rented house. The couple were then forced to strip and were physically assaulted.
The incident was recorded on video, which later went viral on social media.
Sulaeman said the couple originally intended to get married in two months if it had not been for the incident.
Tangerang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sabilul Alif said the couple must have suffered trauma from the incident and hoped the marriage could help put their minds at ease.
Sabilul promised to solve the case and called on people not to conduct vigilante justice because the Tangerang Police would take firm action against the perpetrators.
In the future, the police expect to provide law education for the residents to prevent vigilantism, Sabibul added.
So far, the police have named six people as suspects in the case. They are charged under Article 170 on assault and Article 335 on indecent conduct of the Criminal Code with a maximum punishment of five and a half years and one year in prison respectively.
Among the suspects are local neighborhood unit (RT) head T and community unit (RW) head G, T who allegedly encouraged other residents to get involved in the attack and recorded the video.
It was not the first case where people took the law into their own hands.
In August, a man was burned to death after being accused of stealing three amplifier units from a mosque in Suka Tenang, Bekasi regency, West Java.
In April, Endi Nurmansyah was stabbed by residents of Tambora district, West Jakarta, and left to die in a cart in an alley after being accused of attempting to steal a motorcycle.
A month later, motorbike gang member Farhan Ardiansyah was beaten to death by residents in Jatiwaringin, East Jakarta, after his gang’s involvement in a brawl in the area.
Meanwhile, M was reportedly offered a job by communication company Opal Communication through the Facebook account of CEO Kokok Herdhianto Dirgantoro.
There has yet to be any progress with the offer, but Kokok said he would tell M about it later and let her decide whether or not she wants to accept the offer.
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