Banda Aceh Police Deny Rape Allegations Against 3 Officers

Apparently in ultra-conservative Banda Aceh, where women straddling men on motorcycles is now a no-no, multiple police having sex with an alleged 'prostitute' isn't such a bad thing. The trouble is, the 19-year-old woman- that the three Indonesian police officers have said they paid for sex- claims she was force-fed methamphetamine, and then gang raped by the officers. Police officials are corroborating the officers' account, saying she was paid for the sex and enjoyed it. The girl's uncle disputes that.

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.”

So even though sex is forbidden outside of marriage in Islam and is punishable by Shariah law, it's okay- in this case- because they supposedly paid for it, or  because they're police officers? What am I missing here? What part of Surah An-Nur, chapter 24 of the Quran do they not get?

1. A sūrah which Allah has sent down and made obligatory and revealed in it verses of clear evidence so you might remember.

2. The woman or man found guilty of sexual intercourse - whip each one with 100 lashes, and do not take pity on them in the deen of Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.

3. The fornicator does not marry except another fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.

4. And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses – lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient,

5. Except for those who repent thereafter and reform, for indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

They will however be punished for using meth, according to spokesman for the provincial police, Sr. Cmdr Gustav Leo, if found guilty. But forget the rape, or punishment for having sex with a prostitute, if she really was one, which is doubtful. They'll be far more interested in punishing women for straddling bikes.