Exhumation Results Call AM's Child Death Due To Falling From The West Sumatra Kuranji Bridge, KPAI Responds Like This

KPAI Commissioner Diyah Puspitarini (left) and KPAI Commissioner Dian Sasmita. BETWEEN/Anita Permata Dewi

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) firmly denies the conclusion that the death of a child with the initials AM (13), a junior high school student from Padang City, West Sumatra, had fallen from the Kuranji Bridge.

"We deny that AM died because he fell from the Kuranji Bridge. This is a very unreasonable conclusion," said KPAI member Diyah Puspitarini when contacted in Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, August 12.

He said this when commemorating the year of exhumation against the victim. The exhumation of AM was carried out on August 8, 2024 ago.

KPAI also regrets the attitude of the West Sumatra Police which is considered less responsive to the handling of this case.

"From the beginning, KPAI firmly asked Forensic Psychology Association (Forensic Psychology Association) to be involved, but there was no response at all, and input from the LNHAM (National Human Rights Agency) was not heeded at all, including letters from KPAI that the West Sumatra Police had never responded to," said Diyah Puspitarini.

His party also asked for an investigation into the AM case to be reopened.

"The struggle for AM will not be extinguished, we will not stand still, because the right of children who have died is to get clarity on the cause of death and not to be stigmatized negative. Don't let other AM-AMs, because actually children are the nation's future," said Diyah Puspitarini.

AM was found dead floating under the Kuranji Bridge, Padang City, on June 9, 2024. AM's death coincided with police security patrols against brawls.

A number of parties suspect that AM died because he was abused by the police. The EXhumation Team of the Indonesian Illegal Forensic Doctors Association (PDFMI) stated that AM died not because of abuse, but because he fell from an altitude of 14.7 meters of the Kuranji Bridge.

Based on these findings, the West Sumatra Police then stopped investigating the AM death case.