'Who decides that?': Italians in uproar over judge's '10-second' groping rule
Italians
People in Italy are expressing outrage after a judge ruled a caretaker's grope of a teenager "did not last long enough" to be deemed criminal. The 17-year-old girl at a Rome high school was reportedly walking up a staircase with a friend when she felt a 'foreign hand' touch her underwear.
The teenager claimed the man told her, "love, you know I was joking" when she turned around in shock. The accused was later identified as66-year-old Antonio Avola who was reported to the police.
"He groped my bottom. Then, he pulled me up - hurting my private parts. For me, this is not a joke. This is not how an old man should 'joke' with a teenager," the student toldCorriere della Sera newspaper.
Avola admitted groping the student but maintainedit was a joke, according to a BBC report. While the prosecutors asked for a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Avola, the judge acquitted the caretaker of sexualassault charges.
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According to Italian media reports, the judge determined that the groping did not amount to a crime "because it lasted less than 10 seconds".
"The judgeruled that he was joking? Well, it was no joke to me," the teenager said after the judgement.
"That handful of seconds was more than enough for the caretaker to make me feel his hands on me," she added.
The girl says she feels doubly betrayed - by her school and the justice system after the ruling.
"I'm starting to think I was wrong to trust the institutions. This is not justice."
Social media galvanises
The ruling has incensed the public with many taking to social media platforms to protest. Palpata breve - a brief groping has become a top trendon Instagram and TikTok with the hashtag#10secondi, where users are posting videos to highlight how long 10 seconds feel when groped.
In the videos, the influencers and activists can be seen holding their private parts. with a dead expression for 10 seconds. The uncomfortable videos showcase how vulnerable the victims of sexual assault feel during those brief seconds.
A post shared by Camilla Pagliarosi (@heycamilli)
"Who decides that 10 seconds is not a long time? Who times the seconds, while you're being harassed?" said one of the netizens, while another added,"Men don't have the right to touch women's bodies, not even for a second - let alone 5 or 10".
(With inputs from agencies)
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