Police in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, are investigating a sexual assault case, CCTV footage of which has been circulating online recently.
The footage shows a woman walking alone at night on a narrow residential alleyway in the densely populated district. A man is then seen walking up to her from behind before tackling her to the ground and sexually assaulting her as she fights back. After a few seconds, he gets up and runs away, after which passerbys come to check on the victim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtDD568MBp4
The incident reportedly occurred on Feb. 6, but the victim, identified by her initials DK, reported the assault to the Jatinegara Police yesterday.
“The victim is married, so maybe there was a consideration [not to report the incident right away],” said Sutikno, head of the Crime Investigation Unit at the Jatinegara Police, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
The police say they are now investigating the assault and using the CCTV footage as evidence.
“The victim’s neighborhood is relatively quiet, even though there are houses on either side [of the alley]. The incident occurred in an alleyway, when the victim fell the perp ran away to the adjacent alleyway,” Sutikno said.
In Indonesia, many women routinely run the risk of being sexually harassed in public places, with many female pedestrians experiencing harassment ranging from cat calling to physical assault on a daily basis.
Last month, a woman in the satellite city of Depok had her breasts groped by a random motorcyclist when she was walking alone on a quiet alleyway. In an interview with Coconuts, the victim spoke about her difficulties getting the police to act on her case, which they only took seriously after she made the CCTV footage of the sexual assault go viral online. The motorcyclist was arrested and charged with indecency under the KUHP (Criminal Code), which is punishable by up to 2 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
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