Theresia Sufa, Bogor – The Bogor City Police are investigating a domestic abuse case involving the wife of a retired police general who allegedly physically abused and locked away more than a dozen domestic workers.

West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Muhamad Iriawan said on Thursday that the police would proceed with the report regardless of the previous position of the husband, who is former chief of the Research and Development Center at the National Police.

"After gathering testimonies from the witnesses, we will ask her [the wife] to come in for questioning," he said. Iriawan said 16 domestic workers had been taken to the Bogor City Police headquarters.

The police investigation began when one of the domestic workers, Yuliana Leiwer, 19, escaped and reported her employer, Mutiara Situmorang, to the Bogor City Police on Feb. 14 for physical abuse and unpaid salary.

The employer is the wife of Brig. Gen. (ret) Monang Situmorang, who lives in the Duta Pakuan housing complex in Tegal Lega, Central Bogor. Yuliana said she and 14 other domestic workers had suffered physical abuse and had not received three months' worth of salary from Mutiara.

She said Mutiara had confiscated all the workers' cell phones and did not allow them to make calls. "I escaped from my employer's house after I took my cell phone back. I texted my family and asked them to pick me up," she said.

A few days later, her family came to rescue her from the house with the help of the head of the neighborhood unit in the housing complex. "When I worked at the house, I felt terrorized because even a small mistake could result in me being beaten," Yuliana said.

Based on her report, the police began their investigation in the two-story house, which is surrounded by a three meter fence and barbed wire, and later freed 12 other domestic workers on Wednesday. On Thursday, the police freed three more domestic workers.

Relatives of the rescued workers began to come to the police office to pick up the victims on Thursday, wartakotalive.com reported. Kholid, 33, said his brother, Aep Saefuloh, a domestic worker who worked for Mutiara, went missing two weeks ago.

"At first, my brother went to Jakarta for a job interview with PT Astra in Pulogadung, but we didn't hear from him," he said, adding that he had called his brother's cell phone and texted him, but had received no response.

Kholid said he finally reached Aep on Wednesday evening after he was rescued from his employer's house. He immediately departed from his house in Cilacap, Central Java, after learning that Aep was in the custody of the Bogor City Police. "I arrived early this morning. I want to bring him home to Cilacap because my mother has been crying since my brother went missing," he said.

Kompas reported a similar case of domestic abuse that occurred in the same house in September 2012 when 12 domestic workers from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) tried to escape from their employer after being tortured and going unpaid.

They escaped to the inner city toll road and found help from the employees of the state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga. The workers were taken care of by the employees and later returned home.