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Young mother reportedly takes own life after gang rape in Madura
Police have identified six of the seven alleged rapists and arrested four suspects in an ongoing investigation.
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A protest banner campaigns against rape (Shutterstock/File)
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21-year-old woman who was the victim of rape allegedly committed by seven men was found dead on Wednesday, apparently by her own hand at her home in Bangkalan, Madura Island.
Police said that her body was discovered in the kitchen and presumed that her death was caused by ingesting bleach, tribunnews.com reported.
Read also: More support needed for rape victims
The mother of one was reportedly raped in a forest just 600 meters from her house last Thursday at around 8 p.m., when she was returning from a trip to a nearby supermarket accompanied by two male acquaintances.
The three were approached by seven men claiming to be her relatives who insisted on taking her the rest of the way home, saying that she had been missing for a few days.
The victim's cousin, Musli Multono, said the two men who had accompanied her to the store were not close friends, and that they believed the men' claims and left her with them. He added that following the incident, his cousin received phone calls from unknown numbers threatening her.
"We handed her phone to the police," said Musli as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Bangkalan Police criminal investigation chief Adj. Comr. Agus Sorbanapraja said that police had identified six of the seven suspected perpetrators and arrested four on Monday evening.
"We informed the families of the perpetrators prior [to their arrest], that they had been named as suspects in the case. We [were able to] arrest them with the help of the village head," said Agus.
Police had raided two houses in Tlokoh and Tanjung Bumi villages in pursuit of the two other identified suspects prior to Monday's arrests but were unable to locate them.
Agus added that most of the suspected perpetrators were in their early 20s, and that they had identified two students in connection with the case as MF, 21, and J, 15. (nal)
