Police in the central highlands province of Gia Lai are considering prosecuting several staff members at a local supermarket for abusing a schoolgirl who was suspected of stealing books.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of April 10, when, according to the student, she put her money in her bag, which was put at the supermarket cabinet. The girl then took two books worth VND10,000 (USD0.47) each, intending to pay for them after getting the money from her bag.

However, she was stopped by security when she went to the first floor. Store security tied her to the stairs, hung a sign around her neck saying “I’m a thief," took her photo and uploaded it to Facebook. When her friend called one of the girl's relatives for help, the relative was asked to pay a fine of VND200,000 (USD9.47) for her to be released.

Photo of the schoolgirl on Facebook

“We decided to pay the fine because we think that our child was wrong to some extent and we don’t want to cause any more trouble,” her parents said.

The supermarket

Nguyen Thi Nga, the owner of the supermarket, said she was not at the supermarket when the incident occurred and it was never reported to her.

Nga added that the security guard responsible claimed that he did it just for fun. After the public outcry following the incident, the security guard resigned.

General Dinh Binh, head of police in Chu Se District said they are investigating the incident.