A woman in China got herself arrested for taking a video of her taxi driver who sexually harassed her by masturbating in front of her.
The woman, surnamed Wang, filmed the obscene act being performed in front of her so she could use the footage as evidence against the offender. However, China’s anti-pornography laws were used against her instead, leading to her arrest, reports Sixth Tone.
Wang booked the cab on April 23 in Shengzhou in Zhejiang Province through Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing. When she got inside the car, she noticed that her driver, identified by his surname Xu, was already masturbating. In secret, Wang took a video of Xu doing the act and then sent the clip to her friends and co-workers via the messaging app WeChat.
While she did not use her “evidence” to file a police report, she did file a complaint with Didi against the driver. Problems arose, however, after one of her colleagues from the chatroom uploaded the video on her own social media account and caught the attention of the authorities.
Police then placed both Xu and Wang under investigation. After questioning both, the taxi driver confessed to the crime of indecent conduct and was put on administrative detention for eight days. Surprisingly, Wang was also detained for three days for the crime of “disseminating obscene material.”
The punishment bestowed to Wang enraged netizens, with many pointing out that she was the victim of the incident, reports Mashable.
“Why the hell would this be considered a pornographic video? It’s evidence!” a netizen pointed out.
“You must be really dumb if you think that a tape documenting sexual harassment is pornography,” another Weibo user wrote.
However, lawyer Deng Xueping explained in an interview with the Paper that Article 68 of China’s Public Security Administrative Punishments Law covers those who “manufacture and disseminate” obscene materials.
“Masturbation videos belong in the category of obscene recordings,” Deng was quoted as saying. “Filming [the driver masturbating] counts as manufacture, and posting it on WeChat counts as dissemination.”
For this kind of offense, however, the punishment given is usually minimal with the law recommending a detention period of fewer than five days and a fine of less than 500 yuan ($72) at the minimum.
As for Xu’s crime, Deng explained that while he never touched Wang, the driver infringed on the woman’s rights.
“Indecent behavior is, in essence, anything that infringes on another person’s sexual rights or humiliates them in some way,” Deng said, in reference to Article 44 of the same law.
A spokesperson from Didi told Mashable that the driver has been fined and permanently banned from driving for them.
