A middle school student in the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, was allegedly assaulted by a dozen high school students in a case that has dominated conversation on social media in Indonesia today.

According to reports, on March 29, 12 high school students — all of them girls — ganged up on the victim, who is reported to be 14 years old, over some Facebook comments that she wrote.

“It began with boy problems. According to info [we have received], the cousin of the victim is an ex boyfriend of one of the alleged assailants. On social media they wrote comments to each other until the culprit went to pick up the victim because she was upset,” West Kalimantan Child Protection Services Deputy Head Tumbur Manalu told Kompas yesterday.

The alleged culprit, along with 11 of her friends, went to the victim’s house to pick her up for a chat. But instead they brought her to a quiet park where they each assaulted her.

The victim only told her parents about the assault last Friday and was admitted to hospital to treat wounds on her head and chest on Monday.

The alleged assault sparked outrage on social media today, with the hashtag #JusticeforAudrey, supposedly containing the victim’s first name, becoming the top trending topic on Twitter in Indonesia today.

One viral thread included particularly gruesome details about the alleged assault, including the victim having her head smashed against the pavement, having her stomach kicked, being splashed with water and even one assailant bruising the victim’s genitalia in her attempt to take away her virginity.

That particular thread, which we are not sharing here, doxxes the alleged assailants and accuses them of having no remorse as they posted videos of themselves in good spirits after the alleged assault.

According to the West Kalimantan Police, the victim and her family have reported three of the 12 alleged culprits, but their investigation into the case is still ongoing.

Violence perpetrated by young Indonesians have long been an epidemic in the country, from huge ritualistic street brawls to brutal bullying inside schools. While most viral incidents of bullying in Indonesia involve boys, girls can be equally as brutal such as in one shocking video of a girl being tormented by her peers in Jakarta in 2017.

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