Case Of Harassment Of Santriwati In East Lombok, Police Suspect 41 Victims

Illustration of sexual harassment. (Freepic-Rawpixel-com)

East Lombok Police AKBP Hery Indra Cahyono confirmed the development of an investigation into the alleged sexual harassment of female students that occurred in two Islamic boarding schools (ponpes) in the area.

"Of these two cases, we have named suspects and detained them. So, now the legal process continues and develops," said Hery in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Wednesday, May 24, confiscated by Antara.

The development of the case, he continued, led to the search of other victims. One of them, the alleged sexual harassment of female students that occurred at the Sikur area Islamic boarding school. There are allegations of victims in the case totaling 41 female students.

"For the time being, from the results of the investigation and investigation, there is indeed one victim in Sikur and in Kotaraja, two victims. For the problem, there are allegations of other victims, we are still investigating," he said.

He also hopes that if someone feels they are victims, his party invites them to report to the police. For the matter of protecting victims and witnesses, this will be part of coordination with the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

For the case at the Sikur area boarding school, the suspect has the initials HSN, who is suspected of being the leader of the Islamic boarding school. Likewise with the case at the boarding school in the Kotaraja area, the suspect who is suspected of being the head of the boarding school with the initials LM.

Hery also said that the two suspects were suspected of carrying out the mode of sexual crime by persuasion so that the victim wanted to have sex.

With this disclosure, the two suspects are now named as suspects under the suspicion of Article 81 paragraph (1) and paragraph (3) Juncto Article 76D of Law No. 17 of 2016 concerning Stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2016 concerning the second amendment to Law No. 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection and or Article 6C of Law No. 12 of 2022 concerning Criminal Acts of Sexual Violence (TPKS).

Regarding the handling of cases of alleged sexual harassment of female students in the Sikur area, the Director of the Legal Consultation and Assistance Bureau (BKBH) of Mataram University, Joko Jumadi, previously said that his party noted that at least there were dozens of female students who were victims of the HSN suspect.

In fact, he showed evidence in the form of communication groups on WhatsApp social media, some of which were victims.

"In the WhatsApp group, about 30 members of which were also victims, but only one dared to speak and be a witness. Why is that, because this is a matter of security," he said.

With such information, Joko also assured that the victim in this case was not only one person. In fact, the suspect's actions have been going on for quite a long time.

"Because some of the victims were alumni, some had become migrant workers, people's wives. So, that status made many victims not want to be witnesses," he said.

Nevertheless, Joko assured that his party would help the police to handle this case on target.

"Yes, in other words, we hope that tracking will also be carried out, both for victims and for other perpetrators who may not have been revealed," he said.