A man who was detained for complaining about local hospital’s food online was released and police officers punished for mishandling the case in Handan in North China’s Hebei province on Sunday.

The man, surnamed Zhang, posted negative comments on the meals of Shexian Hospital in June and was awaiting punishment for “l(fā)ying and disturbing public order”, according to Shexian county police in Handan.

The comments were mainly complaints about the price and quality of food served in the canteen of the hospital, such as a bowl of noodles costing as much as 14 yuan ($2) and no meat in a rice set.

The post went viral and caused a heated discussion among internet users.

“The comments created a bad impact on the hospital,” the police of Shexian was told by a person who filed the case.

After police investigated the case, Zhang was punished with detention.

The police action over comments posted online criticizing hospital food caused discussion among netizens nationwide. The Handan Public Security Bureau reinvestigated the case on Sunday.

According to a statement of the Bureau’s official account on Weibo, Zhang posted the comments because he used to help manage the canteen, but lost the business after the hospital was relocated.

The statement said the punishment was not in line with laws even though Zhang’s comments were not true. The head of police station of Shexian has been suspended and related police officers of the case have been removed from positions.

The police station was also ordered to apologize to Zhang.

Contact the writer at: zhangyu1@chinadaily.com.cn