Trafficking of mentally disabled woman in China’s Shaanxi province reflects ‘weak links’ in local governance, investigation finds
- An investigation was launched after a man bragged online about the wife he had ‘picked up from the street’
- China is in the middle of a crackdown on human trafficking after a high-profile case outraged the nation
“Weak links” in social governance and “lax” law enforcement were responsible for the trafficking of a mentally ill woman who went missing in 2010 and was bought by a villager as a wife, authorities in northwest China said in an investigation report released on Wednesday.
The local government announced a probe into the case in Yulin City of Shaanxi province on March 1 after public outrage over the posts, which also allegedly included Li’s admissions that Tang had tried to escape several times over the years and that he had often beaten or confined her.
The Kuaishou videos have been deleted and could not be independently verified by the South China Morning Post.
According to the investigation report, Tao lived in a village in Shaanxi and went missing in September 2010. A man surnamed Wu found her in the square and took her to his home, and he and his sister eventually sold her to Li for 8,000 yuan (US$1,260) a few days later. Tao and Li have a son and a daughter together.
Wu, his sister and others were detained on March 10 on suspicion of abducting and trafficking women, and are currently under investigation. Li is suspected of buying a trafficked woman, but the statute of limitations of five years has passed.
“[The case] reflects the weak links in the city’s grass-roots social governance, care for vulnerable groups and management of public services,” the Yulin government’s investigation report said.