Constitutional Court Decision 202/PUU-XXIV/2026 is a 2026 ruling of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia on a petition for material review of Pasal 246 of Undang-Undang 1/2023, the new Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana), which makes it an offence to incite others in public to commit a crime or to resist public authority with violence.^[1][2] The petition was brought by two university students.^[3] It is one of the constitutional review cases in the field of criminal law and procedure pronounced by the Court on 16 July 2026.^[4]

The Court held that it had jurisdiction but did not reach the merits. The petitioners had filed no evidence with the petition, did not file the revision the panel had advised, and did not attend the hearing set to validate evidence; the Court held that the petition failed the formal requirements for a statutory review petition and declared it inadmissible.^[5][4:1] Pasal 246 was left as enacted.

¶ Provision under review

Pasal 246 of the Criminal Code, as quoted in the petition, provides that any person who in public, orally or in writing, incites others to commit a criminal offence, or incites others to resist public authority with violence, is punishable by imprisonment of up to four years or a fine of up to category V.^[2:1]

¶ Petition

The petition, dated 22 May 2026, was received by the Court's registry on 6 June 2026 and registered on 8 June 2026.^[6] It argued that the offence used the word "incite" (menghasut) without a clear and measurable definition, creating legal uncertainty and a chilling effect on the expression of opinion, criticism and calls for public participation.^[7] The relief asked the Court to declare Pasal 246 contrary to Pasal 28 and 28E(3) of the 1945 Constitution on freedom of expression, to Pasal 28D(1) on legal certainty, to Pasal 28G(1) on freedom from fear, and to Pasal 28J(2) on the proportionality of restrictions on rights, and to hold it without binding force. In the alternative, it asked the Court to hold the provision conditionally unconstitutional unless "incite" were read as conduct that directly, actually and immediately moves others to commit an offence or to resist authority with violence, excluding criticism of government policy and calls for peaceful demonstration.^[7:1]

¶ Ruling

The Court recorded that the petition had been filed online as electronic documents without a list of exhibits or any exhibits.^[8] At the preliminary examination on 18 June 2026 the panel advised the petitioners, under Pasal 39 of the Constitutional Court Law and Pasal 36(3) of Peraturan Mahkamah Konstitusi 7/2025, to repair the sections on jurisdiction, standing, grounds and relief and to attach supporting evidence, with a deadline of 1 July 2026 at 12.00 WIB.^[9] No revision, list of exhibits or exhibits was filed by that deadline, and the petitioners did not attend the hearing held at 15.31 WIB on the same day to examine the revision and validate evidence, although they had been duly summoned.^[10]

The Court applied Pasal 10(4) of Peraturan Mahkamah Konstitusi 7/2025, which requires a petition to be accompanied by evidence and a list of evidence, and Pasal 12(3), which requires an online filing to be accompanied by one set of evidence bearing a duty stamp (meterai). It noted that the absence of a revision would not in itself have prevented it from considering the original petition, but held that the absence of valid evidence, despite the panel's advice, meant that the petition did not satisfy the formal requirements.^[5:1] The operative order declared the petition inadmissible. The decision was reached in deliberation on 2 July 2026 and pronounced on 16 July 2026, with Suhartoyo presiding and the petitioners absent.^[4:2]

The same evidence requirements decided decision 213/PUU-XXIV/2026 on the Code of Criminal Procedure, pronounced on the same day, and the earlier decision 256/PUU-XXIV/2026 on the Police Law, pronounced on 30 July 2026.^[11][12] CRPG's regulatory tracker published an account of the decision on 20 August 2026.^[13]

¶ See also

• Constitutional Court Decision 205/PUU-XXIV/2026
• Constitutional Court Decision 270/PUU-XXIV/2026

¶ External links

• Decision (Mahkamah Konstitusi)
• Case record (Mahkamah Konstitusi)
• CRPG: Petition Testing Criminal Code Article 246: MK 202/PUU-XXIV/2026 (crpg.id, 20 August 2026)

¶ References