A Husband And Wife Arrested By Sukabumi Police, Accused Of Blasphemy

A press conference held by the Sukabumi City Police on Thursday (5/5) related to the disclosure of a blasphemy case by a couple from Koleberes Village, Sukabumi City. (Antara/Aditya Rohman)

JAKARTA - A husband and wife (couple) residents of Kampung Koleberes, Sukabumi City, West Java, were arrested by the Sukabumi City Police Criminal Investigation Unit on suspicion of committing blasphemy because the husband with the initials DER (25) deliberately trampled on the Koran on the orders of his wife with the initials SR ( 24).

"We arrested both of them on Thursday (5/5) in the Warungkiara District, Sukabumi Regency, while traveling to Palabuhanratu," said Sukabumi Police Chief AKBP SY Zainal Abidin in Sukabumi to Antara, Thursday.

According to information gathered from the police, the case of blasphemy by trampling on the Quran took place in 2020. DER's action when he stepped on the Koran was recorded directly by his wife, SR.

The immoral action of a married couple in a serial marriage was then uploaded to the suspect's social media account by his wife on Wednesday (4/5). According to the statements of the two suspects, the reason for this act of trampling on the Quran was not to insult Islam, which is the religion of the couple, but to take the husband's oath not to irritate his wife again.

The action was deliberately recorded by the suspect SR to be used as a threat to DER if he again annoyed him and the climax, the couple got into another fight while traveling to Palabuhanratu Beach and the wife intentionally uploaded a video of her husband stepping on the Muslim holy book to his Facebook social media account. .

The couple did not expect the video to go viral and get responses from various parties, plus when they stepped on the Al-Quran, the suspect DER issued incitement and swear words. Because it went viral, the two of them later deleted the video along with their social media accounts.

The Sukabumi City Police, who received information about the blasphemy case, immediately took quick steps to anticipate the action by arresting the two suspects in the Warungkiara sub-district.

"The video was actually recorded by the suspect in 2020 and saved for his wife's weapon if the husband again did something that irritated him. The video was also used by SR to threaten DER, and it will be uploaded to social media, it was proven by SR, which turned out to be a long post, " he added.

Zainal said the two were charged with multiple articles, namely the Information and Electronic Transactions Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 with the threat of six years in prison and Article 156a of the Criminal Code on Blasphemy Against Religion which carries a sentence of 5 years in prison.