An alleged case of abuse against a middle school student in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, continues to dominate the conversation on Indonesian social media today as police continue investigation into the case.
The alleged victim in the case, a 14-year-old identified by her first name Audrey, was reportedly assaulted by 12 high school students — all of them girls — on March 29 over some Facebook comments she wrote about one of the alleged assailants’ boyfriends. Her story became the talk of the country since yesterday after details about the assault went viral on social media.
A petition on change.org, bearing the viral hashtag #JusticeForAudrey and demanding the authorities prosecute her alleged assailants, has amazingly attracted more than 3 million signatures as of this afternoon since it was posted yesterday.
“There must be action against the violent students. If we let them be, they’re already like that as teenagers, imagine what they’ll be like as adults,” one petition signee wrote.
The police say they are stepping up investigation into the allegations and have questioned three of the 12 alleged assailants that Audrey’s family reported to the police. That said, it’s possible that the others who weren’t reported could be prosecuted as well.
No charges have been made at this point against any of the 12 girls. Child protection groups are expected to accompany the alleged assailants during the police investigation.
The hashtag #JusticeForAudrey went immensely viral and became the top trending topic on Twitter in Indonesia yesterday.
One viral thread included particularly gruesome details about the alleged assault, including the victim having her head smashed against the pavement, having her stomach kicked, being splashed with water and even one assailant bruising the victim’s genitalia in her attempt to take away her virginity.
That particular thread, which we are not sharing here, doxxes the alleged assailants and accuses them of having no remorse as they posted videos of themselves in good spirits after the alleged assault. A selfie taken by three of the girls at a police station have also gone viral, with netizens saying that it’s further proof of their lack of remorse.
Violence perpetrated by young Indonesians have long been an epidemic in the country, from huge ritualistic street brawls to brutal bullying inside schools. While most viral incidents of bullying in Indonesia involve boys, girls can be equally as brutal such as in one shocking video of a girl being tormented by her peers in Jakarta in 2017.
Reader Interactions