Sun Yali.[File photo]

A jilted lover is suing his ex-girlfriend for not returning an alleged engagement gift of a BMW318, sparking hot online debate.

Both pleaded innocence via their Sina microblogs on Sunday after a Beijing court agreed to hear the case of 24-year-old E Jiehao, who met Sun Yali through a television dating show in September.

E claimed he registered the car under Sun's name when the two were planning to marry, according to the Beijing News. It was much too early for marriage talk at that time, Sun replies.

E alleged Sun decided not to marry him at the end of last year but refused to give back the gift. Chaoyang district court accepted the case and has already summoned Sun.

If it's given as an engagement gift, when things didn't work out the gift should be returned, Zeng Zhihong, executive partner at Shanghai DLF law firm, told the Global Times on Monday.

"E has the obligation to provide evidence, but it's always very hard to prove the purpose.

"But in this case, the gift is a significant amount of money, so usually the court will rule that it be returned."

Not everyone agrees, especially women.

"It's people's free will to give or take gifts in a relationship, this guy is so not decent to get them back," 29-year-old Shanghai resident Chen Mingying told the Global Times.