The Procedural Law Of The TPKS Bill Can Be Used To Handle Rape Cases

Willy Aditya/Photo: VOI

JAKARTA - The Chair of the Working Committee on the Draft Law on Sexual Violence (RUU TPKS) Willy Aditya, responded to the aspiration that criminal provisions related to rape be included in the TPKS Bill.

Willy stated that the procedural law contained in the TPKS Bill can be used to handle cases of sexual violence whose criminal provisions are not regulated in the bill. These include rape, forced abortion, trafficking in persons, and domestic violence.

"The advantage of this TPKS Bill is that it has its own procedural law. So, the types of KS (sexual violence) that are not explicitly stated in the TPKS, he can refer to here," said Willy at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, April 6th. Willy emphasized that the provisions regarding rape were not included in the TPKS Bill because it was already regulated in the Criminal Code (KUHP). The same applies to the provisions regarding abortion which have been stated in the Health Act.

"We don't want one legal norm to be regulated in two laws, there will be overlapping," he said.

The NasDem Party politician emphasized that not everything can be generalized into the TPKS Bill. Therefore, he asked for it to be understood.

"We have to give an understanding that the nomenclature, the norm already exists in other laws. Of course it's not a separate thing, but one thing that mutually reinforces each other," said Willy.

Previously, Komnas Perempuan criticized the DPR RI's move to not include rape in the Draft Law on Sexual Violence (RUU TPKS) because it was already included in the Criminal Code Law.

The head of Komnas Perempuan, Andy Yentriyani, assessed that this step was a setback. According to him, if there is no regulation on rape, it can be said that the victims of the crime have not been fully protected by the existence of the TPKS Bill itself.

"Even though it has been ratified later because we still have to wait for the ratification of the Criminal Code Bill," said Andy to reporters, Monday, April 4.

Andy does not deny that the existence of the TPKS Bill is like a 'toothless tiger'. This is because many think that this bill does not include severe sanctions for perpetrators of rape.

"The difficulty is indeed this. Because at the same time there is a Draft Criminal Code, so many parties also depend on improving the regulation regarding (rape) in the revision of the Criminal Code, which we do not know when it will be released, considering the process can also be protracted," explained Andy.