A man who was detained for five days for scalping a railway ticket and subsequently lost his job has been vindicated and awarded compensation by a court in Zhengzhou, Henan province.

In a verdict given at the end of last month but made public yesterday by the Henan Commerce Daily, the Zhongyuan district people's court said the prior ruling of the Shanghai railway police was neither clear nor well-founded.

The court ordered the railway police to pay Hu Zhen 496 yuan ($72.50), an amount equal to his wages for five days, and to refund the price of the ticket, 98 yuan.

In January, Hu, who comes from Zhengzhou, bought his younger sister a standing room ticket from Shanghai to Gongyi, Henan province, for 123 yuan.

Later, after considering the length of the trip, he decided to sell the ticket and buy his sister a seat on the train.

He posted an ad on the Internet and found a buyer in his neighborhood. They agreed on a price of 150 yuan.

On the morning of Jan 26, as the transaction was taking place, Hu was apprehended by railway police and charged with ticket scalping.

During Spring Festival, railway tickets are extremely hard to get, as more than 1 billion train tickets are sold within a one-month period.

If tickets are sold back to the railway, the seller gets 80 percent of the face value. This rule is intended to prevent speculation, but it also makes many people to sell tickets on their own.

However, selling tickets for a profit can lead to five days in jail, or three years in prison if the profits are over 2,000 yuan.

Shanghai railway police found Hu guilty of selling a train ticket for more than its face value.

He was put in detention for five days and his ticket was confiscated. Hu also lost his job as a result of his arrest.

Liu Liqing, the presiding judge of the case, said Hu did not buy the ticket in order to make money.

"Even if Hu was proved to have bought the ticket and resold it for the purpose of making money, he should get a lighter sentence or no punishment at all," Liu said.

Hu's demand for 180,000 yuan in compensation for mental distress was denied by the court.

A judge surnamed Feng at the Zhengzhou court told China Daily that the case is still within the appeal period, but that no appeal has been filed.

(China Daily September 10, 2008)