Rape Case in Juvenile Court: Jakarta, Indonesia

How does a court handle the prosecution of mere children when they have been accused of rape?. Moreover, if they are found guilty then what sentence should be imposed?.

I was totally stunned when I read an article in the JP of an 11 year old girl being raped several times at a school in Jakarta. 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.

Apparently the girl was raped several times - in an empty classroom, the library and a bathroom.

The nightmare began in the middle of May when a maths class was cancelled and Kuntum (the girl) was allegedly forced by the four boys into the boy's bathroom. At first Kuntum took it as a joke but when she tried to leave the boys forced her back into the bathroom.

The assailants stripped her naked, touched her and then took turns raping her. During the ordeal the boys punched the girl when she attempted to call out for help. 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" the mother of Kuntum 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 fine" he said.

Legally, children had a limited ability to differentiate between right and wrong making their actions different from those of an adult. According to legal sources putting the four suspects in this case in an adult prison was against the law.

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 defence lawyer and witnesses. 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 counselling.

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.

I would be interested to know what you readers think of this case and what the actual sentence should be if there is an outcome.