UNAIR NEWS聽鈥揌RLS (Human Right Law聽Studies)聽Faculty of Law 聽UNAIR held a discussion on cases of violence to women with disability in Indonesia on August 23. This time, the discussion was attended by some experts of different concentration of laws to discuss Maria Ulfa case, the woman with down syndrome who was impregnated.
Some of them were Dr. R. Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman, S.H., M.A. as the Head of HRLS, 聽Haidar Adam, S.H., LL.M. 聽the Constitutional Law expert, also Sapta Aprilianto, S.H., M.H. of the Criminal Law Department. 聽There were people from PUSBAKUM Mojokerto with its legal staff. Their coming was to find a way to get legal protection for the victim.
In the discussion, Adi Yosef as the Head of PUSBAKUM explained the beginning of the case and its unresolved state. Adi feels that the police do not really handle the case well. It makes Adi want to find a legal protection based on opinions of FH UNAIR academician.
鈥淭here are no follow ups, but the police came to the crime scene. First report in September was returned as the documents were not complete. If the case cannot have a verdict, then we can say that kids with mental syndrome are protected by law,鈥 he said.
Adi filed the case and charged the culprit with Article 286 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) but according to the expert, it cannot be used to charge the culprit. 鈥淭he culprit was indeed violating the law but Article 286 can鈥檛 be used because, first, Maria Ulfa, couldn鈥檛 be deemed helpless, second, Maria Ulfa was agreed to the crime,鈥 said the expert.
The disagreement made Adi wonder of the case, from which perspective Maria Ulfa wasn鈥檛 deemed helpless. 鈥淎rticle 286 KUHP doesn鈥檛 define the term helpless as physically only. So helpless in the meaning of psychologically can also be included as the victim was a woman with disability, so she doesn鈥檛 know the impact of her deed. Therefore she agreed,鈥 said Adi.
As of now, the case is still ongoing and the court has not been scheduled. It makes lecturers of UNAIR believe that the case must reach the Prosecutor Office first. 鈥淭he target is to reach the court first, as it is open to public. So we can see later and the case is revealed,鈥 said Sapta.
The discussion was ended with an agreement that HRLS will keep an eye on the case. First thing to do is to make a request to the Prosecutor Office so that they pay attention to the case. (*)
Author : Pradita Desyanti
Editor : Dilan Salsabila
