A Shanghai Party official was fired after a video showed him allegedly harassing a woman on the subway surfaced online. Wang Qikang, the offender claims that it was an accident.

According to the South China Morning Post, in the video, Qikang was seen sitting by the train doors when he notices a woman standing close by. After he glanced at her shorts several times, he reaches out and touched the top of her thigh, causing the woman to turn around and lean closer to the door.

The Communist Party member who was eventually detained by the local police for “molesting woman in public,” then quickly turns around his attention back to his phone as if nothing happened.

Qikang told the police that he had accidentally touched the girl’s leg while he was falling asleep on the train. The video, however, shows otherwise. It’s visible that his eyes were clearly open throughout the incident.

The Morning Post reported, citing eastday.com as source, that his explanation infuriated internet users who sent the viral video.

The offender “has been expelled from Communist Party” and Shanghai Jinjiang International Corporation “decided to terminate his contract,” the company said in a statement.

Wang has served as a deputy director of the party office at one of Jinjiang’s subsidiaries. Shanghai Jinjiang is one of China’s largest state-run travel enterprises.

A note posted on the company’s website indicated that party officials were asked to deal with Wang’s case very seriously and in accordance with the law.

The victim who was groped on the video reported the case to the police Sunday.

The South China Morning Post notes that harassment of women in public went largely unpunished for years and victims tend to remain silent.

But in recent time and thanks in part to smartphone cameras, more people are emboldened to report such incidents.