Woman slaps baby's face to force husband to come home; sparks outrage on social media

A woman in Hengyang, Hunan province, sparked public anger after posting a video of herself slapping her baby’s face several times, in an attempt to get her husband's attention.

The video, reposted online by People's Daily on Jan 5, has been watched over 16 million times as of writing.

In the video, a woman can be seen slapping a baby’s face relentlessly. Despite the baby’s cries of distress, the woman remained apathetic and continued on with the abuse. The woman later attempted to smother the baby’s face with her hand to stop the baby from crying.

The police was called in by concerned netizens, who quickly tracked down the woman. The perpetrator was revealed to be the baby’s mother, Qin Weimou, 22, according to Sina Entertainment.

She is said to have committed the act of abuse to force her husband to come home. She felt lonely as her husband was seldom around, and this drove her to commit the appalling act against her own child.

While many were critical of her actions, there were also others who were sympathetic towards her as they speculated that she might have been suffering from postnatal depression.  

People's Daily said that the woman has since surrendered herself to the police and will be kept in custody for five days.

The baby is safe as of now and is under the care of her grandmother.

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wenxin@asiaone.com