The public security bureau in Yongzhou, Hunan province, has demanded a police substation dismiss a case in which a man was criminally detained for allegedly injuring a molester, a local government news website reported on Wednesday.
The bureau said it had ordered the Lengshuitan substation to cancel the criminal detention of the man, surnamed Hu, and it would now reinvestigate the case.
The molester, surnamed Lei, had been given 15 days' administrative detention, it added.
The case aroused public attention when the substation decided to criminally detain Hu, 18, on suspicion of intentional injury on Friday.
In a statement posted online, the substation said it found Hu argued with Lei, 54, in a shopping mall on June 1 after Lei acted indecently toward a female friend. Lei denied misbehaving, and the three went to the mall's monitoring room to watch surveillance video.
While watching the video, Lei fled to a mall parking lot and Hu ran after him. Hu tried to kick Lei two times but failed to connect. A third attempt succeeded, fracturing Lei's right leg and causing him to fall to the ground.
Hu's father said on Wednesday that his son had returned home and was in good condition, thecover.cn, an online news outlet based in Sichuan province, reported.