The Faculty of Law, Universitas Brawijaya holds monthly regular discussions with the theme Restorative Justice for rape victims.
This event was held virtually on Thursday (4/3/2021).
This discussion was held because one of the expressions of Mahfud MD as the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and State Security was considered wrong about how Restorative Justice itself was.
In one of the discussions, Mahfud said that Restorative Justice is defined as the application of justice which only puts forward the stages of society without paying attention to the protection and strengthening of the victims of rape itself.
In fact, according to Rezky Pratiwi, there are many impacts experienced by victims such as contagious physical injuries, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and even psychologically such as depression, fear, self-blame and suicide attempts.
“With this psychological pressure, socially and economically, the victim experiences the impact of rejection which can then lead to a reduction or even loss of the victim’s income,” said Rezky.
Nathalina Naibaho added that when someone serves as a public official, if there is an opinion that is personal in nature, it must be limited because when someone sits in a public position it will become public consumption and what is conveyed will become a concern.
“So, if the opinion is personal, it’s better to keep it by yourself,” he said.
Then, Lena Hanifah argued that there were many obstacles experienced by the victim, one of which was being alienated by the environment in which she lived, and how the handling was rarely on the side of the victim, for example in the indigenous community there were fines which were mostly distributed by the community for covering the victims of rape, so that what is the right of the victim continues to be put aside.
From the three speakers, it can be concluded that the interpretation and implementation of restorative Justice, especially for rape victims, is very contextual and very dangerous if it is interpreted as the definition of a case as protection of the perpetrator which should be a protection for the victims [FDA / Humas UB/ Trans. Iir].
