JAKARTA: An Indonesia Muslim cleric, who took a 12-year-old girl as a second wife, might face up to 15 years in prison on charges of obscenity, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The 43-year-old Pujiono Cayho Widiyanto, a wealthy businessman and cleric, was arrested by police in the central Java city of Semarang on Tuesday, after her married a poor village girl, Lutfiana Ulfa, sparking nationwide outrage.
"We've collected enough evidence to charge him with under age obscenity under the Criminal Code," chief detective Royhardi Siahaan was quoted as saying by the Indonesian daily the Jakarta Globe.
The cleric was arrested after police collected documents proving Ulfa was under age, Siahaan said.
The majority of Indonesia's estimated 234-million population are Muslims.
Minimum age for marriage
Widiyanto and his supporters argued that his actions are acceptable under Islam but others say he should abide by state law, which sets 16 as the minimum age for female marriage, and 19 for males.
Arranged marriages between older men and much younger girls are common in poor rural areas in Indonesia. These marriages are not registered so they are not legally recognized, but are religiously sanctioned. Indonesian law carries stiff penalties in such cases.
