Marriage Catches In NTT Including Kidnapping Against Women

Deputy for Women's Rights Protection of the Ministry of PPPA Ratna Susianawati (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) said the case of arrest marriage that occurred in Southwest Sumba Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), was a kidnapping and violence against women.

"Cases like this certainly injure women's right to live safely without violence. Marriage arrest is a form of kidnapping and violence against women. Of course this can be categorized as a criminal act and is not part of the custom," said Deputy for Women's Rights Protection of the Ministry of PPPA Ratna Susianawati when confirmed in Jakarta, Saturday 9 September.

The statement was in response to the circulation of video footage on social media showing a number of men wearing traditional clothes, arresting a woman who was standing on the side of the road. The woman was immediately carried by a number of men and taken away in a pickup truck.

This incident is suspected to be a catching mate, a tradition in NTT.

According to Ratna Susianawati, cases of arrest marriage should be stopped in order to protect women from sexual violence wrapped in culture.

In addition, he added, there is a role in the relationship between power and power in cases of catching marriages that are not worth maintaining.

Regarding the case of arrest marriage in NTT, Ratna Susianawati reminded that the Minister of Understanding (MoU) for the Increase in the Protection of Women and Children in Sumba Sub-District by the NTT Provincial Government and the Sumba Sub-District Government in 2020.

The PPPA Ministry also asked law enforcement officials to process the law against the perpetrators of arrest marriages.

"For this reason, we ask law enforcement officials to take firm action against every practice of arrest marriage. Do not let cultural traditions be used as a cover to harass women and children," he said.