UCA News
Contribute

Indonesian police charge music teacher over student rapes

Case involving at least seven victims sparks calls for suspect to be chemically castrated
Indonesian police charge music teacher over student rapes

Nahar, deputy chief of the child protection desk at the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry. (Photo courtesy of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry)

Published: March 11, 2022 09:08 AM GMT
Updated: March 11, 2022 09:28 AM GMT

Indonesian police have charged a 32-year-old music teacher with raping and sexually assaulting at least seven students at a school in Central Java province, prompting calls for him to be chemically castrated.

The teacher at a state-run junior high school, who has yet to be identified, was arrested last week in Purbalingga district following several complaints by parents of the alleged victims.

Police said the offenses took place in the school’s music room between 2013 and 2021.

When raping his victims, who were 14 years old on average, the teacher threatened to give them bad grades if they refused him, police said, adding that some of the attacks were filmed and stored on his laptop.

Five out of the seven victims were forced to have sexual intercourse by the suspect, who also had a collection of more than 4,000 pornographic pictures on his mobile phone and laptop, police said.

The case prompted calls for the teacher to face the harshest punishment possible under the law, including chemical castration.

“There must be zero tolerance against those committing sexual abuse. We want him to be given the maximum sentence possible"

One such call came from the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry.

“There must be zero tolerance against those committing sexual abuse,” Nahar, deputy chief of the ministry’s child protection desk, said in a statement published on the ministry’s website on March 10.

“We want him to be given the maximum sentence possible,” said the official, who like many Indonesians only uses one name.

Under Indonesian law, the teacher could face a maximum 15-year prison sentence and chemical castration under a regulation introduced by President Joko Widodo in December 2020.

Nahar said the case demonstrated the urgency of preventing sexual abuse in educational institutions.

This case is the latest in a string of similar cases reported in Indonesia in recent times.

Last month the head of an Islamic boarding school in Bandung, West Java, was jailed for life for raping at least 12 teenage girls.

Speaking with UCA News, Franciscan Father Vinsensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic Education, said such cases showed a failure in the education system.

“We fail to provide those who want to be teachers with both academic skills and morality. Academic skills are not enough. Those who want to be teachers must have good spirituality and conscience,” he said.

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
Each year during Lent, UCA News presents the stories of people who will join the Church in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is their Lord. The stories of how women and men who will be baptized came to believe in Christ are inspirations for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Church's chief feast.
Help us with your donations to bring such stories of faith that make a difference in the Church and society.
A small contribution of US$5 will support us continue our mission…
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
Asian Bishops
Latest News
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia