Police warn false claims of child abuse may face prosecution

Police in Guizhou have rejected allegations that a child at a local kindergarten had been sexually assaulted, and have taken compulsory measures against the individual who first made the claims while they are investigated for potentially spreading rumors.

Children gathered together at the playground in a kindergarten. [File photo: IC]

Earlier this month, a child protection account on Weibo received a direct message containing a picture of a child said to be a student at a kindergarten in Guizhou who had been sexually assaulted. The owners of the child protection account reported the allegation to local and provincial police.

The photo sent to the child protection account on Weibo with the allegation that the girl had been sexually assaulted. [Screenshot: China Plus]

The police found that the photo matched one posted by another Weibo account. The original post was of someone's daughter sleeping on a bed in a kindergarten, and said "My daughter is resting on the bed in the kindergarten, it's raining heavily now, we'll go home when the rain dies down." There was no indication that she had been assaulted.

A special police team was sent out to check all of the kindergartens in the province yesterday, which turned out no reports of assaults.

In a statement, police said they are investigating the owner of the Weibo account responsible for the allegation. The account has since been deleted, and police have warned that people found to be spreading false rumors can be prosecuted.