A man in his early 20s has been arrested by authorities for allegedly hitting a city official during a recent COVID-19 health protocol inspection at a café in North Cipete, South Jakarta.
The man, identified as 22-year-old RQ, attacked North Cipete sub-district head Nurcahya on Saturday night, Nov. 21. Nurcahya was going about the inspection when RQ and his group of friends retaliated against her.
“There’s a bruise on [her] cheek. The person who assaulted her was a café visitor,” Jimmy Christian Samma, who heads South Jakarta Police’s crime investigation unit, said yesterday.
Jimmy said that Nurcahya decided to inspect the café after seeing the place crowded at the time. However, RQ’s group got mad as they were being scolded, and he went as far as to take off Nurcahya’s face mask by force, before hitting her face.
On top of RQ’s assault, Jimmy said the rest of the group also assisted in assaulting Nurcahya.
“Out of the three people, there was someone who held her arm, another one pulled the sub-district head by the neck. Then someone hit her,” Jimmy said.
The assault was subsequently reported to the South Jakarta police, leading to RQ’s arrest. Police say they are still looking into the case with regards to the other two possible suspects.
RQ has been charged with violation of articles on assault and vandalism under Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP), which could see him sentenced to a maximum of five years and six months in prison.
