Government apathy and a local media blackout in a case involving a teacher who allegedly raped at least eight primary-school girls have forced parents in the northwestern province of Gansu to seek help online.
The appeal to the nation's legislators and the All-China Women's Federation began circulating online on Wednesday. It said the rapes were committed over the past two years by a teacher in his early 20s at the Zhulian Primary School in Biyan town.
The girls involved were aged between nine and 13.
The teacher, who was detained by police on May 17, is alleged to have raped the students after summoning them into his office to inspect and revise their homework. Most of the girls were allegedly raped multiple times.
The online appeal, signed by the 'parents of eight schoolgirl victims', said: 'Since the parents reported the case [in mid May], aside from some brief questions asked when police brought the students to hospital for a check-up, police and prosecutors have not sent anyone to the victims' families to investigate. Nor have any local education officials come to ask us about this.
'From the conversations that one regional headmaster subsequently had with some of the parents, asking us to keep this low-key, we are worried that, without media intervention, this case will be treated coldly and the criminal suspect will not be punished as he should be under law.'
The letter's drafter, a father whose 10-year-old daughter was allegedly raped at least three times, spoke yesterday to the South China Morning Post, which is not releasing his name, to protect his daughter's identity.
