If you think the Sachin Vaze controversy has revealed the rot in Mumbai’s police force, wait till you hear what is happening in China’s port city of Lianyungang. This ancient city was one of the 14 coastal cities that first opened up to foreign trade in 1980. It has seen Japanese occupation, but the sordid goings-on that have come to light now might put those dark days to shame.

It is a sleazy world that rules Lianyungang, going by a recent judgment in which a 27-year-old policewoman was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and a fine of five million yuan. She had joined the city’s police force as an auxiliary (temporary) police officer at the age of 19. In the next five years, says the judgment, she extorted 3.72 million yuan from nine men, eight of them senior officials and four of them policemen, by sleeping with them and then blackmailing them, sometimes with claims of pregnancy. Alongside the five million yuan fine, the policewoman also has to return the extorted money.

Not convinced

But netizens are not convinced that the young policewoman is guilty.

Could a 19-year-old be in a position to seduce the director of her police station, and then within five years do the same with two police station heads, the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, the vice director of a hospital, a primary school principal and the president of a trade union? Or, as netizens ask, is it a case of a clique of officials using a young rookie and compelling her to keep quiet? Moreover, how did these public servants have so much money to give her? On an average, the amount works out to 4,00,000 yuan per official, with the highest payment being 1.28 million yuan.

The public debate on the judgment has embarrassed the administration. No sooner was the judgment posted online by a lawyer than a police officer called him with a request to take it down. The lawyer not only refused to do so, claiming that it was a public document taken from the court’s website, but also posted a recording of the phone call online. The judgment was immediately removed from the court website, with the court issuing a statement saying that since the case had gone into appeal, the judgment had not been implemented yet. Not even the official news agency, Xinhua, has bought this explanation.

Tawdry reputation

While the convicted policewoman’s voice remains unheard, her family has spoken up. If she was indeed extorting money, says her father, why did not the men go to the police? Because they were police themselves! The money they gave her was nothing but compensation for her “lost youth’’, he maintains. Her mother has revealed that the deputy director had reassured her that he would “take care’’ of her pregnant daughter. Her uncle alleges that the family is not being allowed to hire a lawyer of their choice to argue the appeal.

At the foundation of the popular support for the policewoman lies the tawdry reputation of the Chinese Communist Party. Party officials, say netizens, are known to have lovers on the side; in this case, they got together to exploit a vulnerable girl. Why have they not been investigated? In the face of overwhelming public pressure, the local government quickly put out a statement that administrative disciplinary action had been taken against seven of the officials; the eighth was jailed last year for bribery.

But netizens are not satisfied. Given the power of the officials involved, the trial ought to have been held outside Lianyungang, they say. Now, the appeal definitely must.

Whether the demand is met or not, the public has decided who is guilty.