HONG KONG: A woman in China who installed a surveillance camera in the home of her husband and his mistress, then shared the videos online has been told by a court to delete the footage.
However, the woman has not been required to pay compensation to the mistress.
The case, which has gone viral on mainland social media, came before Teng County Court in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, south-western China.
While the mistress did not accept the verdict of the court and lodged an appeal, the upper-level Wuzhou Municipal Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original verdict in early April, the Guangxi Legal Daily reported.
In August 2023, the mistress, surnamed Wang, found a hidden camera in a rented flat in which she and a man, surnamed Hu, lived. Hu was the husband of a woman, surnamed Li, at the time.
Wang discovered their intimate footage had been recorded on camera.
The filmed intimacy was saved on a memory card and uploaded online. It had been viewed multiple times.
She learned that the camera was installed by Li, her sister and her brother.
In the following months, Li shared Wang’s pictures and videos many times on social media.
When Wang called the police and officers asked Li to remove the online content, she refused to do so.
Wang sued Li and her siblings, and demanded they stop infringing her rights to privacy, reputation and her image.
Wang also required them to delete all the written content, photos and videos of her.
Also, she demanded a public apology and a compensation payment to cover her spiritual loss and legal fees.
Li countered by saying that the house was rented by her husband, therefore it was reasonable for her, as his wife, to install a surveillance camera to ensure the safety of their child.
She said that after discovering her husband’s extramarital affairs, she shared the videos online to stop her husband’s infidelity. She believed her behaviour was not inappropriate.
Li’s sister and brother claimed they did not infringe Wang’s rights, so she should not seek compensation from them.
The Teng County Court verdict ruled that Li’s actions had infringed Wang’s rights.
Although Li sought to safeguard her own interests, her actions crossed a legal boundary, so she should remove everything she released online about Wang.
The court continued to say that Wang was wrong in the first place by having an affair with the married Hu. What she did contravened public order, good customs, and ran counter to socialist values.
There was no evidence that Wang suffered from serious mental damage, and the court did not support her request for an apology and compensation from the wife.
The case became a topic of discussion online.
“It is ridiculous for a mistress to seek spiritual compensation from a wife,” said one netizen.
“Without the surveillance footage, how could the wife sue her husband for cheating?” asked another person. - South China Morning Post
