An elementary school headmaster and a government employee in Wanning, Hainan Province, were reportedly detained by police last Saturday on suspicion of molesting six schoolgirls. After a couple of days' investigation, police submitted an application for the arrest on Tuesday night. This explosive news made headlines in newspapers and websites, prompting close follow-up reports.

The nature of this case is still uncertain. But what we know for certain is that not only the suspects, but also the police, have touched a raw nerve in the public once again.

It is a good sign that Chinese police are starting to take the media and public opinions seriously. This improvement cannot be achieved without the development of social media, whose reach extends to every part of society and creates powerful waves of suspicion and desire to dig out the truth.

Although the case has been interpreted from many perspectives, two official announcements have fanned the flames. The first claimed that it was the girls who contacted the headmaster in the first place, and the second claimed that "the second virginity test shows the hymens of four victims (two were absent from the test) are intact and no signs of intercourse were found."

Before the facts of the case had been clarified, the police selectively released these two details, which were regarded by the public as questionable and misleading. It was even rumored among the public that the details were meant to give the suspects leverage to pardon their crimes. It is unfortunate that timely reactions from the police backfired this time.

There are still a lot of doubts which have been triggered by the police's irresponsible, suspicious, or at the very least, ill-considered announcements. For example, after the results of the virginity tests were hastily announced, the parents of the victims doubted them because the results, as they claimed, were so different from the first test, which had been conducted a couple of days before the second one and proved that the hymens of five of the victims had been ruptured.

It seems that the fragmented and chaotic pieces of this case, which originally stem from a cluster of police announcements, became new evidence of the government's clumsy and slow reactions to public opinion. Fairly and responsibly restoring the whole image of the case is the best strategy in responding to these "picky" public opinions. But the government and other institutions which have direct contact with the public's interests are still unaware of that. Any attempt to tone down scandals and whitewash the existing problems will never help bring back credibility, but instead widen the cracks of mistrust.