Mataram Police Detains TPQ Teacher Suspected of Molesting Female Students

PIXABAY ILLUSTRATION

MATARAM - The Mataram City Police, West Nusa Tenggara, arrested a teacher of the Al Quran Education Park (TPQ) with the initials HS (29) as a suspect in a case of alleged sexual harassment of female students.

"The person concerned has been officially detained at the Mataram Police Detention Center since Monday (2/3) yesterday in the status of a suspect," said Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Mataram Police, AKP I Made Dharma Yulia Putra, as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 4.

Police investigators have named HS as a suspect who is suspected of violating Article 415 letter b of the Indonesian Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.

"According to the new Criminal Code that we have implemented, the suspect is threatened with a nine-year prison sentence," he said.

Dharma explained that his party was handling this case for the first time following the victim's report submitted through the Mataram Child Protection Agency (LPA).

Joko Jumadi, Chairman of the Mataram LPA who was present to accompany the Head of the Mataram Police Criminal Investigation Unit in a press conference, confirmed this.

"This case was originally reported through the LPA hotline. It happened for quite some time. Initially one person (victim) and it developed into seven," said Joko.

The immoral acts that fall under the category of child molestation were recorded from the reports of seven victims that occurred in the period from February 2023 to November 2024.

The location of the incident was at the TPQ in Ampenan District, Mataram City, which was where the suspect HS taught the victims.

"So, this obscene act was carried out in the middle of the victim's hafalan deposit," he said.

After receiving support from the LPA, the seven victims dared to report HS's obscene acts to the police.

"The report was only in early January," he said.

Regarding this incident, Joko ensured that seven of the victims were now adults. Psychologically, he ensured that all the victims were normal without trauma.