A college girl has received widespread criticism on social media for accusing a man of furtively taking photos of her on a subway and calling him a sordid geezer, despite that the man proved his innocence. Photo: Snapshot from Sina Weibo.

After a college girl deliberately accused an innocent worker of taking secret phones of her in a subway in South China's Guangzhou and revealed his personal information, which aroused widespread criticism online, Southwest China's Sichuan University said on Monday that it has got contact with local police and the female student to check the situation, vowing to punish the student in accordance with the school's procedures, and disciplinary guidelines 

The university's response topped the trending topics on China's Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo on Monday with more than 620 million views and comments as of 2 pm, following the hashtag linked to the student's apology on Sunday evening which gained more than 560 million views and comments on Weibo.

The girl received widespread criticism online for libel and directing cyber violence to the innocent man, who was suspected of using smartphone to sneak photos of the college girl on the subway but then proved his innocence by allowing the girl to check his empty photo album. But the girl still exposed the man's face in a video clip on Weibo on Wednesday and described him as "a wretched and sordid geezer with skillful secret photography technique."

The 56-year-old innocent man, with the company of his son, has reported the incident to the local police on Sunday, requesting an apology, otherwise they'll sue the girl for slandering. According to the man's son, the man doesn't go online often or even know how to use smartphones and he knew the incident on Saturday evening after a friend sent him the video.

The college girl rushed to the police station on Sunday, crying for forgiveness from the man and his son as the school may suspend her for the incident. 

"My uncle, I'm sorry. I really made a mistake. I should not have released the video clip online and portray your image improperly after confirming you are innocent. I've realized how this incident would deeply hurt you and your family. I seriously extend my grave apology and receive the criticism and correct my mistakes," said the girl later on Sunday on Sina Weibo.

A few days ago, the girl posted a video where she questioned a man squatting while holding a smartphone in his hands if he was furtively taking photos of her in the subway. She demanded to check his photo album but found no such photos. However, the girl still posted the man's face online and claimed her interest had been violated.

The innocent man decided to forgive the girl. "We are peasant worker. She has much higher education level than we do. We don't want the school to suspend or ask her for compensation. As long as she apologizes, we'll give her a chance," said the man's son.

Despite the girl's apology and the man's decision of not holding her responsible, netizens expressed their great anger over the girl's cyber bullying activities.

"She still chose to attack and defame the innocent man without any hesitation or any concern of how such violence could hurt him," said one netizen. "She is exploiting symbols of women's rights to 'legitimately harm' innocent individuals, which seriously damaged the social credibility for women to truly protect their rights and exacerbated gender divisions in the society," commented another.

On Friday, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security released a draft for comment about punishing cyber violence and criminal activities, saying severe online slandering and insulting could be punished as crime of defamation and insult in accordance with China's Criminal Law.