Revenge Porn as Digital Gender-Based Violence: Analysis of the Pati District Court Decision Number 189/Pid.Sus/2023

Abstract

The non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (revenge porn) constitutes a form of Digital Gender-Based Violence that severely violates victims' sexual autonomy and privacy rights. This study critically analyzes the harmonization of criminal regulations in Indonesia and the judicial reasoning (ratio decidendi) in the Pati District Court Decision Number 189/Pid.Sus/2023/PN Pti. Using a normative legal method with statutory, case, and conceptual approaches, this study evaluates the normative conflict between public decency offenses in the EIT Law and Electronic-Based Sexual Violence (KSBE) under the Sexual Violence Crimes Law (UU TPKS). The findings reveal two primary conclusions. First, positive legal frameworks suffer from qualification conflicts, where the UU TPKS should apply as lex specialis derogat legi generali, overriding general decency clauses in the EIT Law. Second, the judges' ratio decidendi remains trapped in an offender-oriented legalistic positivism paradigm, neglecting gender power imbalances, revocable consent, and the victim's continuing harm. Consequently, the one-year prison sentence is disproportionate and reinforces the invisibility of victims due to the absence of restitution orders and digital content take-down directives. This study recommends a judicial paradigm shift toward victim-oriented justice to secure substantive justice and victim recovery in the digital era.