Police Fail to Apprehend Suspect of Sexual Assault — Jombang police failed to apprehend the suspect of sexual assault, alias MSAT. He was reported for sexually assaulting an underage female student under the police number report: LPB/392/X/RES/1.24/2019/JATIM/RESJBG. The victim is one of MSAT’s students in Pondok Pesantren Shiddiqiyyah, owned by the suspect’s father.
MSAT has never once fulfilled the investigator call by the Jombang police during the investigation process. He has once accused the East Java Police Chief that the assessment of determining him as a suspect is invalid. He also submitted two pretrials to the Surabaya District Court and the Jombang District Court however, both are rejected.
He has been set as the suspect in December 2019 however, the Jombang or East Java police have yet to apprehend him. The attempt to forcefully pick up MSAT has been hindered by the local pesantren congregation.
“We are here to back up the arrest of suspect MSAT. However, there are some drawbacks in the field. Standby members. We want to take action but the situation does not allow it,” said Moh Nurhidayat, Jombang Police Chief AKBP, on Monday (4/7).
A father’s testimony
KH Muhammad Mukhtar Mukthi, the father of MSAT, has asked the Nurhidayat not to arrest his son. MSAT’s father is Kiai from Jombang, which is an Islamic religious leader and the owner of the pesantren where the assault happened. It was addressed during a sermon in Ponpes Majma’al Bachroin Habbul Wathon Minal Iman Siddiqiyyah in Jomban on Sunday (3/7).
The incident was caught on camera and was publicly shared with the public on social media. From the video, it can be seen that the pesantren’s leader said that the case that befalls his son is family slander. So, he hoped that the police will drop the case as according to him, it’s necessary to maintain safety for everyone as the problem is just his internal family conflict.
“This slander is a family problem. For that, return to your places, don’t force yourself to take my son who has been slandered,” he said.
Attempt of Apprehension
The police attempted to capture MSAT on a car chase on Sunday afternoon (3/7). There are three cars driven by MSAT from Desa Sambongdukuh, Jombang. During the chase, the cars kept going to Ploso where one of the cars tries to stop the police by blocking them. One of the cars successfully enters Pesantren Shiddiqiyyah. Armed policemen then surrounded the pesantren owned by MSAT’s father up to the point they also closed the Jombang-Lamongan road.
The police then sent a negotiator to the pesantren, however, MSAT’s followers doesn’t relent. The police’s attempt failed up to midnight and they retreated back to the headquarters.
