Officials suspended for allegedly handcuffing girl

GUIYANG - A township leader and a police officer in Southwest China have been suspended from their posts pending investigation into a case in which township officials allegedly handcuffed a teenage girl and paraded her around town last month.

Yuan Zehong, Party chief of Kele Township, and Chen Song, a township police officer, are under investigation, according to a statement issued by the government of Hezhang county, Guizhou province, early Tuesday.

An investigation team of senior officials, police and discipline inspection authorities of Hezhang was established on Monday, according to the statement.

A netizen told the story in a microblog post on Monday. The post claimed that a 13-year-old girl surnamed Rao accidentally splashed water on a car belonging to the township government on April 6, then she got involved in verbal and physical confrontations with government staff.

Police then handcuffed Rao and forced her to walk around town for about 20 minutes, according to the microblog post.