Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A woman in Aceh filed criminal charges against her "husband" of less than three months after finding out that he was in fact a woman, police said on Tuesday.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Armia Fahmi, chief of police in Aceh Tamiang district, said that Dian Maharani, 21, had reported the suspect, Sri, aka Eriq Perkasa Syah Putra Bin Arifin, for fraud.

"I've spoken with Sri, and to look at her you wouldn't believe that she was a woman," he said. "Her voice, her face and her posture are all very masculine. She even has short hair."

Armia said Dian and Sri were married on March 25, with not even the cleric presiding over the ceremony suspecting that the groom might be a woman. The truth was only uncovered when Sri took Dian to her parents' home on June 14.

"Sri went into one of the bedrooms, leaving Dian out in the living room with the parents," Armia said. "Because Sri was gone a long time, Dian asked the parents what was keeping their son so long. That's when the parents dropped the bombshell that they didn't have any sons, only daughters."

He said the parents told Dian that Eriq was in fact their daughter, Sri. "At that point Sri came out of the room and tried to flee the scene," Armia said. "But Dian, who was incensed at having been cheated, chased after her and slapped her to the ground."

Dian then reported Sri to the police, who have since named her a suspect for identity fraud. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. "When we interrogated Sri about why she did what she did, she claimed that she was attracted to Dian," Armia said.

He added that police believed her true identity had not been uncovered earlier because the newly married couple had likely never had sex. "How were they going to do it? They're both women. They may have hugged and kissed, but that was it," he said.

Police are also questioning Hermansyah, the head of Bukit Rata village where the marriage was registered, and the head of the religious affairs office (KAU), which performed the ceremony and issued the certificate.

"We're looking into how they issued the marriage permit and certificate and performed the ceremony without properly vetting Sri's true identity," Armia said.

Separately, Hermansyah said the marriage permit had been issued at the start of his tenure as village chief, so he could not recall whether the required background checks had been properly carried out or which official had signed off on the permit.

Syamsul, a community leader who refereed Sri's application for the permit, said that she had supplied all the required paperwork, including an ID card and family card, both of which identified her as Eriq, a man.

Syamsul said he had no idea at the time that Sri was actually a woman posing as a man.

The case mirrors that of Rahmat Sulistyo, a man who posed as a woman in order to marry a visually impaired man in Bekasi. Rahmat is currently standing trial for fraud.