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Seven staff members of Xi'an Metro Group were punished on Thursday for poor management after a female passenger was roughly dragged out of a metro carriage by a security guard on Monday in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The security guard has also been suspended.

A video clip circulating online shows a woman in a black dress quarreling with an elderly man in the subway carriage. She was shouting at the man when a security guard came and asked her to leave.

The woman refused and the guard roughly hauled her out of the carriage, causing her personal belongings to be scattered all over and tearing some of her clothes off. 

An investigation carried out by Xi'an's Commission for Discipline Inspection and local police said that although the passenger may have been disturbing public order on the subway, the management of the situation was uncivilized and rude.

The female passenger should be criticized and educated over her disruptive behavior in public places but the security guard will also be suspended due to his violent behavior, Xi'an police said.

The Xi'an Commission for Discipline Inspection punished seven related officials in the Xi'an Metro Group for lack of service awareness, employment training and regular supervision. 

The behavior of the subway security guard drew widespread anger and criticism on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

Lawyers also pointed out the improper management of the situation, despite the woman's disruptive behavior. Subway security guards don't have the authority to force passengers off trains and their measures should be civilized and rational, said Lu Fengyang, a lawyer with AllBright Law Office.

Xing Xin, a lawyer with Jinzhou Law Office, suggested that the security guard could have waited for the police to deal with the passenger's disruptive behavior. The passenger can defend her rights by lawful means if she feels she was mistreated, Xing said.