Police in Central China's Hubei province have been accused of dumping a sane man in a mental hospital because he was taking photographs of a protest last Friday.

Peng Baoquan[File photo]

Peng Baoquan, 47, a banker by profession, saw a group of 20 company employees protesting outside a hotel in Shiyan city, where some provincial discipline inspection officials were lodged, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News reported.

Peng had only clicked a few pictures of the group before the police caught him and took him to the police station, the report said, adding that the banker was then admitted to a local mental hospital later that night.

Insisting Peng is "not mentally ill", his family on Monday demanded that he be released immediately. However, the police and the hospital have yet to set Peng free.

"At first, they (the hospital) didn't let us see him, saying there is a rule that new patients can only be visited after a week," Peng Xiumin, Peng Baoquan's sister told China Daily.

"But I managed to get in with another patient's family and saw my brother."

Peng Xiumin said her brother was staying in a ward with several other patients.

"He was calm and used my cell phone to talk to his friend," she said.

"The doctor didn't say if Peng is mentally ill or not, but only said they need to observe his condition further," she said.

Shiyan police refused to comment on the case.

Zhang Hongfeng, a well-known blogger from Hunan province, who is also Peng Baoquan's friend, said it is illegal and outrageous that the police admitted Peng to a mental hospital without giving any explanation or notifying his family beforehand.

"I have talked to Peng several times and I never felt he was suffering from any mental problems," Zhang said.

Zhang said Peng called him on Friday afternoon and told him he was "in trouble".

"He said he was in a mediation room in the police station and I told him it will all be all right. But later I called him several times and could not contact him. Then I got worried and started to look for him," Zhang said.

Chen Yonggang, another friend of Peng Baoquan, later learned that Peng was in a mental hospital.

The police told Chen on Monday that they did not know when Peng will be released, as the hospital needed some more time to observe him.

"They're making excuses. The police blame hospital rules, while the hospital said it's the police who sent him there," Chen said.