For three years, a woman identified as YTR, 29, lived confined to a rented room in Cileunyi, a suburb east of Bandung, Indonesia, about 150 kilometres south-east of Jakarta. Her partner, Taufik Hidayat, 30, beat her daily. By the time she was found, she had lost her sight, could not walk, and could barely speak. On 12 June 2026, an anonymous WhatsApp message led her family to the emergency ward at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung. Her family had not seen her in roughly three years. They had assumed she was missing.
West Java police documented the injuries at the hospital: the right eye destroyed, the left eye damaged, skull wounds still draining pus, lips permanently deformed by repeated blows, and an inability to walk or speak clearly. YTR’s sister, Melanie, told Detik on 24 June 2026 that the head wounds were still being cleaned due to infection.
Police moved to arrest Taufik Hidayat on 22 June 2026. He fled.
West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi posted a reward of 250 million rupiah (about US$14,000) on social media for information leading to his capture. The announcement spread quickly.
In the hours that followed, residents in Bandung began stopping strangers whose faces resembled the fugitive’s. Aditya Peratama Putra, an actor known from the television series Preman Pensiun, was grabbed by the collar inside an Alfamart convenience store by a man who believed he had found his target. “Where do you think you’re going? You’re the one who did this,” the man told him, according to statements Aditya Peratama Putra published online on 23 June 2026. The actor recorded a video clarification to prevent further confrontations.
Police traced Taufik Hidayat through his bank transactions in the Majalaya district, east of Bandung. He was arrested without resistance on 23 June 2026 at 6:30 p.m. and placed in an isolation cell under continuous video surveillance.
According to Inspector General Rudi Setiawan, head of West Java Police, Taufik Hidayat had first fled to Tangerang — a city in the Jakarta metropolitan area, about 200 kilometres west of Bandung — before returning to Bandung to hide with relatives. “He was scared, suspicious of everyone, and had nowhere left to go,” Inspector General Setiawan told Detik on 24 June 2026.
At the time of his arrest, Taufik Hidayat acknowledged drinking alcohol every day before attacking YTR. He had also considered suicide during his flight, according to the same report.
Governor Mulyadi announced that the reward will be deposited into a term savings account in YTR’s name, effective 1 July 2026.
“I want him punished as severely as possible, so he can feel what I felt,” YTR said from her hospital bed, according to Detik published on 24 June 2026.
