A mother in East China's Zhejiang Province hid her 11-year-old son and reported him as missing to the police to test whether her husband still cared about her and their son, police said on Wednesday.
The mother was detained for allegedly spreading false information as the case made national headlines.
The boy "missing for five days" was hidden by his mother surnamed Chen Friday evening at about 6 pm. Chen met her son Huang Zhenghao after school and asked him to hide in a four-wheeled electric car. Chen gave Huang the key to the vehicle and some food, Yueqing police in East China's Zhejiang Province reported on its Sina Weibo account.
Chen then reported her son as missing to the local police. Chen also issued an online notice about her "lost" son, with a reward of 500,000 yuan ($72,800).
While the public passed around the notice and the police investigated the case, Chen secretly transferred Huang to a nearby village until the boy was found Tuesday night.
Chen confessed to the police that she was testing whether her husband still cared about her and their son. Chen and her husband, who runs a business outside Yueqing, had family disputes, the police said.
The public became angry after learning that Chen had fabricated the whole story, accusing her of wasting the time and energy of the police and jeopardizing social credibility. "Who would retweet such information next time after the woman 'cried wolf'?" Weibo user Donghaojun asked.
At 9:50 am on Dec 5, the reporter went to Huang Liangyi's tenement house in the Zhenxing Community of Hongqiao town, Yueqing city. The neighbor, Ms. Zhao, told the reporter that at 2 o'clock in the morning, Huang Liangyi's family moved out. Now there is only a washing machine and a refrigerator in the house, which belong to the landlord. "It is only two months before their lease contract is due."
According to Article 25 of The Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China, anyone who disturbs the public order by spreading rumors or false reports, epidemics or warnings, will be detained for more than five days and less than 10 days, and will be fined less than 500 yuan. If the circumstances are relatively light, the person will be detained for less than five days and be fined 500 yuan or less with administrative punishment.
"If the perpetrator has a clear intention, creates and disseminates false alarms, and seriously disturbs the social order, then it may constitute a crime. If the case is confirmed to be a crime, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to five years in prison, criminal detention or under surveillance. If any serious consequence is caused, the prison term is more than five years."
Source: Global Times
Intern editor: Shang Zhen
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