The blasphemy lawsuit allegedly involves a TikToker under the name of Lina Mukherjee. Lina Mukherjee had previously been reported to the South Sumatra Regional Police for her content, which included eating fried pork while chanting “bismillah” on purpose. According to Dirkrimsus Polda Sumsel Kombes Pol Agung Marlianto, the suspect’s identity was ascertained on the 27th of April, 2023.
Because of her history of severe stomach ulcers, Lina was not detained by the police. The South Sumatra Regional Police has been questioning her since the morning of Wednesday, the 3rd of May, 2023.
Senior Commissioner Agung Marlianto Basuki, director of the Special Criminal Investigative Unit for the South Sumatra Police, stated that the police reminded Lina Mukherjee to cooperate and be available to be contacted by police at any moment for the investigation process.
Initially, Lina was accused of blasphemy on the 15th of March by an Islamic preacher in Palembang named M Syarif Hidayat. Through her personal social media account @lilumukerji, Lina Mukherjee, in the viral video, whose real name is Lina Lutvia, was reported for purposefully eating pork skin while she was a Muslim.
Agung claimed that after reviewing the information, his team looked into the matter. As part of their investigation into the report, the police called in several experts on Tuesday, the 21st of March, 2023.
“We invited many specialists, including linguists, ITE specialists, and criminal experts. We asked these professionals to determine if Lina Mukherjee’s TikTok, which showed herself eating pork, was a crime,” Agung said.
In light of this, Agung added, his team formally labelled Lina a suspect in the blasphemy case due to her pork consumption. Agung explained that to move the case from the investigation stage, the suspect is determined based on the findings of the case report.
Agung said, “We also got a letter informing us of the ruling of the MUI fatwa on the 18th of April 2023, which declared Lina Mukherjee’s actions blasphemy.
Agung claimed Lina missed the initial call. Furthermore, his party will immediately summon Lina as a suspect since she didn’t show up.
“Investigators moved quickly to carry out the summons process, as the person in question was not present in the first summons. Then we issued a second summons letter, instructing her to show up on the 2nd of May 2023,” Agung explained.
After the last questioning process on the 3rd of May, 2023, the police decided to stop the case and not go further with the detention. However, the police reminded Lina Mukherjee to behave and create appropriate content that would not cause an uproar.
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