Chinese authorities have sparked outrage after dropping an investigation into a father who allegedly molested his five-year-old daughter.
A video circulating on social media last week showed a man on a train in southeastern China repeatedly touch a girl who told him to stop and referred to him as her father.
The footage prompted Nanchang railway police to investigate, according to The Guardian, and on Wednesday officials said they had located the alleged perpetrator – a 30-year-old man who was only referred to by his surname Zhou.
However, noting the man was the girl’s father, police said in a statement on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform: “Zhou’s behaviour shown in the video does not constitute molesting. We sincerely thank citizens for their concern.”
The official response, which received more than 21,000 comments from members of the public, triggered anger among many who said the man’s conduct – he had the girl on his lap and touched her under her clothes – was clearly sexual.
“This briefing is indeed more disgusting than the video itself,” one Weibo user commented, while another wrote: “Have you ever thought that a little girl may have been ruined for her whole life?”
China passed its first law against domestic violence in 2015. The law is intended to prohibit any form of domestic abuse in the family, including psychological abuse. According to the country’s criminal code, molesting a child is punishable by a minimum of five years in prison.
Yet because issues in the family have traditionally been viewed as something that should be dealt with internally, many crimes are still ignored by local authorities.
