Jakarta: An Indonesian school principal has been sentenced to death for molesting 13 minor students. Thirty-six-year-old Harry Viravan, a 36-year-old teacher, was sentenced to death by a lower court after accepting a prosecution’s plea for life imprisonment. The prosecution had approached the apex court seeking that he be subjected to chemical sterilization and the death penalty.
The incident that rocked Indonesia came to light last year. The incident came to light when the family of a student approached the police with a complaint that the teacher had molested her and made her pregnant. He is accused of sexually abusing 13 students at his school between 2016 and 2021. The victims were 13 girls between the ages of 12 and 16. Of these, eight girls became pregnant. In February, a lower court judge ruled that some of the girls had sustained injuries during the torture.
Harry Viravan had asked the lower court that his presence as a father was necessary to protect and nurture the children born to him among these students and to avoid severe punishment. However, the life sentence of a teacher who sexually assaulted a student was commuted to life imprisonment, prompting strong protests in Indonesia. There has also been intense pressure to pass a bill that has long been considered by the Indonesian parliament against sexual harassment. Indonesia’s Minister of Child Welfare and others have publicly demanded the death penalty. At the same time, the country’s human rights commission opposed the death penalty.
Last year alone, 14 similar cases were reported in Indonesia after a boarding school teacher who was the only way to get an education for children from poor backgrounds abused female students. With this, there was a need to ensure the safety of students in such institutions as well.
English Summary: Indonesian teacher condemned to death for raping 13 students