[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Rape case tests limits of juvenile court system
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 19:21:06 +0200
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**http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060708.G03&irec=2
Rape case tests limits of juvenile court system
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Trenggalek
Tri broke into tears as she recalled how her youngest daughter was raped by
four boys at her school in Trenggalek, East Java.
The housewife remains unable to come to terms with the suffering of her
11-year-old daughter, "Kuntum".
"My poor daughter, she had to suffer a nightmare that every woman fears at such
a young age, being a rape victim," she told The Jakarta Post.
The student at an elementary school in Trenggalek was allegedly raped by the
four boys on several different occasions. The suspects, one aged 12 the others
11, have been held at Trenggalek prison since June 28 while awaiting trial,
which is scheduled to begin Monday.
Tri says her daughter was raped several times -- in an empty classroom, the
library and a bathroom.
The nightmare began in the middle of May, when a math class was canceled and
Kuntum was allegedly forced by the four boys into the boy's bathroom. Tri said
at first Kuntum took it as a joke, but when she tried to leave the boys forced
her back into the bathroom.
She says the assailants stripped her daughter naked, touched her and then took
turns raping her. Tri said they punched her daughter when she attempted to call
out for help.
"At first, I didn't believe it, but that's what happened. After that, Kuntum
reported the incident to one of the teachers but was ignored," Tri said.
Several days after the first assault, the boys attacked her again, this time in
an empty classroom and then in the school library.
"Kuntum did not want to tell me about it, afraid that I would be angry," she
said.
The attack became public when someone reported the matter to a local
journalist, who wrote a story about the alleged rape.
Kuntum's parents immediately went to the police. "A medical exam showed
bruising on my daughter's vagina and found signs that it had been penetrated by
a foreign object," she said.
Police investigating the case named the four boys as suspects. They have been
charged with violating several articles of the Criminal Code.
One of judges scheduled to hear Monday's trial, Didi Ismiatun, said the court
would consider whether the four boys should be punished for their alleged
actions. "The maximum penalty is 15 years in jail and up to a Rp 30 million
(US$3,260) fine," he said.
According to Nonot Soeryono, a coordinator with the Surabaya Children's Crisis
Center (SCCC), which is part of the non-governmental organization Plan Surabaya
Indonesia, rape cases involving minors were difficult to handle because justice
had to be done, without forgetting that the victims and suspects were children.
On the victim's side, he said, authorities had to do a full investigation to
determine whether rape had occurred.
"Technically speaking, it has to be determined whether there has been a rape,
based on medical and legal views," Nonot told the Post.
And when dealing with the suspects, authorities must make sure they are not
treated as adult criminals.
He said legally, children had a limited ability to differentiate between right
and wrong, making their actions different from those of an adult. He emphasized
that putting the four suspects in this case in an adult prison was against the
law.
According to information gathered by the Post, the four suspects are being held
in a single cell, separated from the adult inmates. The regency does not have
separate facilities for child criminals and criminal suspects.
Plan Surabaya Indonesia, through the SCCC, has provided the boys with legal
assistance. It also has sent a letter to the National Commission for the
Protection of Children and the Trenggalek Prosecutor's Office, asking that the
four boys be released from the prison and returned to the custody of their
parents.
"Don't repeat the mistakes of Raju's case in Medan. We're trying to uphold the
law, not torture children with acts of violence," Nonot said.
He was referring to the March trial of 8-year-old Muhammad Azwar, also known as
Raju, in an adult court in Langkat regency, North Sumatra.
Raju's trial was heavily criticized by children's rights groups, which said it
was inhumane and unnecessary. The court found Raju guilty of assaulting
Armansyah, 14, and returned him to his parents' custody. Prosecutors detained
Raju in an adult prison before his trial.
According to a 1997 law on juvenile courts, any trial involving a juvenile
should involve the child, his or her parents or legal guardians, a defense
lawyer and witnesses.
Speaking from Jakarta on Thursday, the National Commission for the Protection
of Children urged the Trenggalek Prosecutor's Office and the court to release
the four boys and provide them with counseling.
"Children under the age of 12 cannot be treated like adults, even if they may
have committed a crime. The prosecutor's office has acted against the law,"
said commission secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait.
Based on the 1997 law, he said the four boys must be detained in a place where
there are no adult prisoners, like a Muslim boarding school.
Seto Mulyadi, the commission's head and also a psychologist, said the children
were victims of the lack of controls over the distribution of pornographic
materials, as well as the pressure put on them by the school as high-achieving
students.
"According to Freud's theory, the sex drive comes at their age and it can be
uncontrollable if they are under pressure and if their surroundings show them
ways to express it," he said.
Seto said the boys' case was similar to Raju's. "It looks like Indonesia's
juvenile court system has yet to learn from that case."
The director of child welfare at the Social Affairs Ministry, Makmur Sunusi,
said earlier the country had not yet developed a proper juvenile court system.
Raju's trial, he said, also showed the juvenile criminal system was failing to
protect children's rights, adding there was a need to revise the law on
juvenile courts. (06)
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