A female bus passenger in Beijing got stabbed by a harasser on Monday morning after slapping the man and threatening to call the police.
A witness and rescuer of the woman surnamed Yang told Beijing News that the woman was taking the bus to work when she slapped a man who touched her bottom twice while walking up and down next to her. The women snapped a picture of the man’s face and threatened to turn the man into the police as she went to alert the bus driver.
The harasser followed the woman to the front of the bus arguing while reaching into his woven bag. He tried to stopped her but ended up stabbing the woman, covering her mouth to keep her from yelling while he stabbed her on the neck and back.
Yang and other passengers helped subdue the man immediately. The attacker, surnamed Liu as police identified, seemed astounded by his own action afterwards, and he said he would pay for medical treatment for the victim.
Beijing News confirmed on Tuesday that the victim, was still receiving close medical attending in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at an unnamed hospital. A doctor handling ICU said her survival should be determined after three day’s watch.
The attack raised concerns over security issues in public. Many called for severe punishment, suggesting authorities mandate chemical castration and tracking devices to such offenders. Some are worried with this incident going viral people would rather stay quiet, fearing they would get harmed more than the harassment. A netizen @Yanyan on China’s twitter-like Weibo posted this response to the news: "Hope that authorities could intensify relative punishment to such crimes, get them what they deserve and raise crime cost.”
Beijing public transportation system hired over 16,000 bus administrators for 265 regular bus routes since the end of 2016. Trained security guards, a black-outfitted personnel on operating bus was expected to overwatch passengers and dealing with emergencies first handed. Some questioned about the case where no such figures involves, despite that the bus administrators received mass complaints on misconduct and indolent action since day one.
The case is now in process at law enforcement department.
Sexual harassment cases go through civic procedure in China where the firstly anti-sexual harassment provision was enacted in 2005 but only in the amendment to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women (LPRIW). The provision term was far from enough when China is lacking applicative regulations that target crimes related to sexual harassment, according to a research released by Renmin University scholars in 2009. Also, the country stayed blank in clauses and terms when come to men suffered sexual harassment.
Earlier in 2017, a Guangzhou-based anti-sexual harassment non-governmental organization (NGO) and a Beijing-based law firm jointly surveyed 6,592 people from all around the country around college age. Over half of the informants stayed quiet after harassed, and less than four percent of the informants issued/ reported to school authorities or law enforcement.
