Nip domestic violence in the bud

On Saturday, a video clip showing a girl wearing a school uniform being brutally beaten by a couple went viral online. Later, the local police in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, said the incident took place in the city and it was being investigated. Thepaper.cn comments:

In the video, the couple attacked the girl in a rather brutal way, namely by slapping her on the face, pulling her hair, kicking her and beating her with a broomstick. The local police confirmed that the couple in the video are the girl's parents and said the girl, who is 8 years old, has no obvious scars on her body.

The local women's federation has already applied to the local court for a protection order and the girl is, at least for the moment, secure. According to the law, her parents might receive a warning and or even a punishment if they are charged and found guilty by a court.

Yet the case leaves many questions unanswered. Reports show it was a friend of the father who happened to see the video clip on his smartphone and posted it online. Who shot the video? What if the friend did not see the video? What if the video did not go viral online? What if the local police did not notice the video?

That's a dilemma facing all victims of domestic violence, especially children. Families are quite closed circles and minors generally do not have sufficient reason or courage to report domestic violence to the police. When neighbors or other outsiders discover what is happening, the damage is already done.

Last year, a six-year-old boy was beaten so brutally by his stepmother that he suffered brain damage. An investigation found that the boy had been beaten by his stepmother for a long time, but the local police did not become aware of it until it was too late.

The solution lies in improving the legislation and granting the police more power so that they can intervene promptly. For example, in the United States, many states have passed laws that require any person who has information about possible domestic violence against children to report it to the police. In Japan, neighbors and others who know a child is being beaten are obliged to inform the police. It is time for China to follow suit.