Police Deny Rape Claim Against Officers in Aceh

BY NURDIN HASAN (THE JAKARTA GLOBE)

Banda Aceh, TAG - Police in Aceh have denied allegations that three officers in the Simeulue district forced a 19-year-old woman to consume methamphetamine and then raped her, claiming she was paid for the ordeal and enjoyed it.

Marhadin, the uncle of the alleged victim, said on Monday that the incident occurred last Thursday, when the woman arranged to meet one of the officers outside his rented room in the morning.

However, when they met, he and two other officers forced her inside the room, where they forced her to consume meth, Marhadin said.

“She was raped by one of them while the others watched,” he claimed.

He added that after the ordeal, the officers would not allow her to leave until late at night, and when they finally did let her go, she was still under the influence of the drugs and had to be hospitalized.

“We demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice for their heinous crime,” Marhadin said.

“We hope they are punished to the fullest extent of the law to serve as an example, so acts like these no longer occur.”

The police, however, insist there was no harm done because the sex was agreed upon beforehand and the officers had paid the victim afterward.

“After an investigation, the three officers admitted to violating this girl and paying her Rp 200,000 [$21] for the enjoyment,” Adj. Sr. Comr. Parluatan Siregar, the Simeulue Police chief, was quoted as saying in the Serambi Indonesia newspaper.

“So it wasn’t a rape. If she claims she was really raped by the officers, why didn’t she get a medical checkup done when she was in the hospital?”

He confirmed that the three officers had been placed in custody, not for the alleged sexual violence but for using meth.

“All three tested positive for using meth,” he said. “They all agreed to use meth before [the sexual contact] so that they would enjoy it more. That’s what they claimed.”

Parluatan did not answer repeated calls by the Jakarta Globe for confirmation.

The Aceh Police, meanwhile, claimed they knew nothing about the incident.

Sr. Comr. Gustav Leo, a spokesman for the provincial police, told the Globe that his office had not received official notification about the case, but promised that any officers proven to have committed a drug offense would be duly punished.

He did not, however, address the allegation of rape.

“The commitment of the Aceh Police chief [Insp. Gen. Herman Effendi] is clear in cases where police officers are found to have broken the law,” he said.

“What’s more, this is a drug allegation, so obviously they will be punished accordingly,” he added.[]

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