A video has emerged of a group of people in a village in Indonesia dragging a young man and his girlfriend out of his home, forcing them in front of a sewer drain and then dumping waste water on their heads. This public humiliation took place on March 7 in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

The two victims were accused of being alone together in a room despite being unmarried, which is forbidden by sharia law, an Islamic law code which is enforced in Aceh, a northern province on the island of Sumatra. While an official morality police force called the Wilayatul Hisbah is responsible for enforcing these laws in the region, it is often civilians who take it upon themselves to enforce them.

Several men used smartphones to film the public humiliation that took place in Kayee Lee, a village in the administrative subdivision of Ingin Jaya. The footage shows a young man wearing jeans and a brown T-shirt sitting in front of a sewer drain with his head bowed. Next to him sits a young woman wearing a headscarf and clutching a pink bag. The crowd heckles the two victims.

"What you did is against Islam! This should serve as a lesson for you!” some shout.

Then, one of the young men in the crowd dumps a bucket of wastewater on the couple (photo below).









Screengrab of a video that was widely shared on social media in Indonesia.

When the police arrived on the scene a few minutes later, they let the young couple wash off in a nearby stream, then brought them to the police station where the morality police are headquartered.





Screengrab of a video showing the young couple washing off in a stream.



When questioned by the local press, Ingin Jaya’s Chief of Police, Nazarul Fitra, said that the girl, who is 18, went over to her boyfriend’s house, who was home alone. The neighbours thought they were probably there to have sex outside of marriage and forced them out of the house.

The chief of police said that the couple were taken to the headquarters of the morality police, who will carry out an investigation to determine if they did engage in the crime of “promiscuity". In Aceh province, this crime (known as khalwat) is punishable by 100 lashes with a cane and a fine equivalent to 150 grams of gold or, if they can’t pay, 15 months in prison.