Police in East Java’s Banyuwangi regency has arrested five men and are in pursuit of another suspect for the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl.
The victim was reportedly forced to down alcoholic drinks and a prescription drug before she was raped.
The rape case came to light following an investigation into possible drug abuse by the crime investigation unit at the Wongsorejo Police, who received a tip-off from local residents that a house in the area was hosting binge-drinking parties.
When police raided the house, they found five men and the victim, along with some drugs. The suspects, who are all residents of Wongsorejo, have been identified as 26-year-old ZR, 18-year-old AS, 16-year-old HA, 19-year-old IF, and 15-year-old RW.
Authorities confiscated the victim’s clothing, bottles of alcoholic drinks, and hard drugs as evidence. The gang rape allegedly occurred a day before the raid, and Sudarso said that the house — which belongs to ZR — is where the crime took place.
Police said the suspects gave the victim double the amount of alcoholic drinks that they themselves consumed. One other suspected rapist, who was not at the location during the raid, is still under police pursuit.
“If the suspects had one shot [of alcohol], the victim was given two shots,” Sudarso said yesterday.
Adult suspects are being handled by the Wongsorejo Police, while the underage ones ware being investigated by Banyuwangi City Police’s Teenager, Children, and Women’s Crime Investigation unit.
The suspects have each been charged with sexual abuse under Indonesia’s Child Protection Law, which can see them imprisoned for up to 15 years.
In 2016, the brutal gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl shocked the nation and spurred President Joko Widodo to pass a controversial law allowing chemical castration for convicted pedophiles. At the same time, not much has been done to progress revisions to sexual crimes laws in order to enforce harsher punishments for perpetrators of gender-based violence and provide greater protections for victims.
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