A judge in Italy has ruled that groping is not a crime if it lasts less than 10 seconds. The controversial decision has sparked uproar in Italy, as well as a viral social media trend.
The ruling this week was in response to an April 2022 incident involving a 17-year-old student at a Rome high school and a 66-year-old school caretaker, identified as Antonio Avola, according to BBC News.
The woman, now 18 and identified only as Laura, was walking up some steps to class when the incident occurred, the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported. She felt her pants fall down, a hand touching her buttocks, and then a man grabbing her underwear, BBC News reported.
According to the media outlet, the student turned around and saw Avola, who said: “Love, you know I was joking.”
During the trial, the janitor admitted that he had touched the student but that he had done it “as a joke.”
The judges accepted the defense’s argument that the act was meant to be a “clumsy joke” without “libidinous intent” towards the girl.
A public prosecutor in Rome had asked for a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Avola, but he was acquitted of sexual assault charges.
The decision caused outrage among students and sparked a viral trend on social media.
A local union representing high school students, ‘Rete degli Studenti Medi del Lazio,’ said on Facebook that “this is not a joke, there is nothing funny about it.”
“It is unacceptable that we cannot feel protected at school. Once again, the patriarchal system has won, with the tacit support of institutions and politics. This model does not represent us, we will always be on the other side of the fence, for a safe society based on respect,” they said Tuesday.
