Diksia.com - A viral video in China shows a child jumping from the 5th floor of his apartment building.
The child was said to have been physically abused by his mother, the South China Morning Post reported.
The video was taken on June 25, 2023 in China’s Anhui Province.
The child, believed to be 6 years old, jumped from the top of an air conditioner outside his home when his mother, who was inside, hit him with a stick.
The person recording the video, as well as other local residents who saw the incident, can be heard yelling at the boy.
Despite being yelled at, the boy still flinched.
The video was uploaded to Weibo and has been viewed more than 10 million times.
According to local police investigating the incident, the boy, named Yan, was taken to the hospital immediately.
He suffered no fatal accident, but several broken bones.
In a report published by police on Weibo, investigators said the child’s mother hit the child with a stick to force her inside, afraid she would fall.
In addition, a staffer from the All China Women’s Federation chapter claimed that the child’s mother was merely tricked with a stick and that the boy accidentally fell out of the building, according to a report by Jiupai News.
However, people react differently.
Many local residents do not believe the police statement.
Some claim the police tried to cover up the incident.
Some also highlighted the weakness of state laws designed to prevent child violence.
“He’s more scared of his mother than jumping” commented someone.
“People downstairs were already yelling, ‘Stop hitting him,’ and Mom still wouldn’t stop. I don’t get it,” said another.
Among the many written questions, one person asked, “Where are the child protection laws?”
China Newsweek reported that Yan’s father works in another city and the boy lives with his mother.
According to a survey by the Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, which examines Chinese media reports of violence against children, between 2008 and 2013 75 percent of the violence was perpetrated by birth parents.
China’s legal protections make it difficult for authorities to punish parents who abuse their children and to protect children from domestic violence.
Child protection laws require local government or the police to warn or reprimand children’s legal guardians if they violate the rights of minors.
Under China’s current public security regulations, the standard penalty for someone who commits violence against a family member is five days in prison, but only if the victim reports it.
A legislative provision introduced in 2014 aims to allow authorities to take custody of children of abusive parents.
However, local government officials refused to comply with the law.
They still cling to traditional values such as “not using a stick means spoiling children” and the idea that domestic violence is a “family problem”.
In another case, in 2019, a mother sparked public outrage after kicking her three-year-old daughter, a young model, at a photo shoot.
It later emerged that the same woman had hit her daughter on a different set.
The mother disappeared from public view after posting an apology on Weibo.
He said he was just trying to teach his daughter something and had no intention of hurting her.
A month later, Phoenix New Media reported that the mother and daughter had made a comeback in the child modeling industry.
The mother never faced legal consequences for hitting her son.
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