Women prefer to remain silent or use the anonymity of the Internet to deal with being molested on Shanghai subway trains as several high-profile cases have stirred a debate about how to better protect the fairer sex.

An alleged molester who was pictured touching the legs of a woman on a train of Metro Line 9 last Friday has been found and detained.[Photo/weibo.com]

Police officers and the city's Metro operator have urged molested women to speak out so the perpetrators can be punished, which they hope will lead to fewer such incidents.

Several cases this summer went viral on social networking sites. In each case the victim's decision to remain silent shocked many.

Some molested women simply said "they do not want any further trouble."

"I just moved away and wouldn't say anything as long as he did not follow me," one woman told Shanghai Daily when recalling an unhappy experience earlier. She declined to be named.

The woman, aged about 35, said she did not call police but wrote about the experience on her microblog to warn others.

Metro police have handled more than 13 molestation cases on the city's subway network so far this year. They admitted the number of cases was probably much higher since many victims don't report to police.

In early June, a man was caught fondling a woman who had dozed off on a train. The man later surrendered to police.

Earlier this month, another man was seen fondling a woman wearing shorts on Line 9. Though the suspect was caught, police said they are not able to press charges against him if the woman does not appear to testify.

To prevent further cases, police have said surveillance cameras in stations will be used to take four frontal pictures of each passenger.

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