'Whimsical' rape creates 'temporary' craze

• Source: Global Times
• [01:18 November 17 2009]
• Comments

by Yin Hang

Vaccination might offer "temporary immunity" against the A(H1N1) virus but nothing can stop "temporary obsession", the new online viral phenomenon.

"Temporary rape" is the catchphrase du jour after two police assistants in the provincial-level city of Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, raped a drunk woman who had passed out in a hotel this June. The local court sentenced the violent duo to three years in prison after concluding theirs was a "temporary" crime, China News Service reported. The judges reasoned that firstly, the men had not planned the rape, secondly they had turned themselves in and thirdly, both had been forgiven by the victim.

The exact meaning of "temporary" in the court's verdict soon fascinated Internet users.

"It stands for informal and short-term behavior," concluded one commentator in a thread that drew more than a million views on Tianya, one of China's largest online forums. "So is there any difference between formal and informal, long-term and short-term, when it comes to the crime of rape?"

Before long the catchphrase had taken on a life of its own and the original rape case captured the attention of a higher court. The chief justice of Zhejiang provincial high court ordered the intermediate court to review the case and on November 6, the Huzhou court announced a retrial.

"Through a review of the case, the intermediate court of Huzhou found a mistake in the judgment, in which a light sentence was made in the first-instance verdict," the court told Xinhua News Agency.

"The case has been accepted by our court," an anonymous judge at the intermediate court of Huzhou told the Global Times.

"We will judge in accordance with the law. But I cannot give you more explanations about the details of the case and the possible sentence since our retrial has not started yet.

"Our verdict will be deemed as the final verdict once made."