Video shows a Chinese man beating his wife in Shuozhou, China; meanwhile, the pedestrians and cyclists did nothing.
The photos circulating on different social media platforms are disconcerting to watch as the violent husband killed his wife, and the onlookers didn’t bother to stop him. The man hit the helpless woman with rocks and a wooden stool.
According to reports, the incident took place on Saturday. The husband driving a scooter collided accidentally with a vehicle; he took out his frustration on his wife by viciously hitting her in front of several people.
Authorities have taken the suspect into custody, and the case is under investigation. The footage of the incident shows the helpless woman sitting on the sidewalk and trying to defend herself. Eventually, she lay straight on the road, bleeding and crumbling with pain, while the abusive husband continued beating her.
So many people witnessed the attack, but not a single person came forward to help. He was not even carrying a weapon that people would have feared. There’s an intense debate going on social media regarding the public’s woeful attitude towards domestic violence.
A law against domestic violence was introduced in 2015 by the Asian Nation, but its implementation is ignored. Stats say one among every four married women suffer from domestic violence in China. Each year more than fifty thousand complaints are registered against domestic violence.
A similar incident took place in 2011 when a toddler got hit by a vehicle, and the onlookers watched him dying as a sidewalk show. The fear of getting into trouble and payment of hospital charges often stop the people in China to intervene in someone else’s fight.
The onlookers faced an intense backlash for filming and watching the marital conflict without stepping in to control the situation.
Women’s rights activists said the domestic violence act in China does not protect the victims who escape abusive homes. “Shelter homes for domestic violence victims are present, but the eligibility, rules and whole set up is so absurd that women can’t avail the facility,” said a women’s rights group.