44. And that is how silence protects the aggressors 

Personally, I lost faith in Indian judiciary when as a journalist I saw something at a High Court judge’s residence. Right before my eyes. But I’ll not go in details. Read between the lines. Since then, I don’t trust the institution. 

Even you can recollect many judgements, when your reaction would be: “This is not justice.” And it happens every now and then. 

In Indian courts money and power rules. A powerful prosecutor can get the judge to write whatever judgement he wants. He can get the court’s door open in midnight and on holidays. Your case could be prioritized. 

All you require is money and power. Rest your advocate will take care of. 

Have you ever wondered why most of the Indian politicians’ yes-man are advocates? And they are rewarded well. Not only a Rajya Sabha membership but they also become law ministers. 

You don’t have to stretch your mind – they are there. No one can deny the fact. 

Today just came to my mind a bizarre judgement. Hope some of you will remember the judgement, which was passed by an Italian judge some two years back.

But before that, answer a question: “Should it count as sexual harassment if an assault lasts less than 10 seconds? 

Read on if your answer is YES. Otherwise close the device where you are reading this column and better do something else.

Now the judgement – A judge cleared a school caretaker, 66-year-old Antonio Avola, of groping a 17-year-old student, because it did last less than 10 seconds. 

The student described walking up a staircase to class, when she felt her trousers fall down, a hand touching her buttocks and grabbing her underwear. When she turned and objected, she got an answer instantly: “Love, you know I was joking,” the man told her. 

In the court the man admitted to groping the student without consent, but said it was a joke. The public prosecutor asked for a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence but the caretaker was acquitted. 

According to the judges, what happened ‘does not constitute a crime’ because it lasted less than 10 seconds and he groped the teenager only briefly, performing an “awkward manoeuvre without lust”. The judge also said that it was a joke appeared “convincing”.

So according to the judge a grope has to last more than 10 seconds, before it is considered sexual assault. As the man’s hand had not “lingered” down her underwear for very long, it did not constitute a crime. 

Just think over. Can the duration of the harassment diminish its severity? Why is the duration even assessed to determine whether it is violence or not? 

Hearing the judgment the student’s reaction was: “The judges ruled that he was joking? Well, it was no joke to me. The caretaker came up from behind without saying anything and put his hands down my trousers and inside my underwear. 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 Italian word for this action is ‘palpata breve’ - literal meaning is ‘groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will - a brief groping.’ 

The people were outrageous and expressed their anger on social media. The palpata breve soon became a trend with the #10secondi hashtag, when an actor Paolo Camilli and later an influencer Chiara Ferragni, with a 29.4 million followers on Instagram posted videos.

And no sooner thousands of people followed suit looking at the camera in silence and touching intimate parts, breasts and chests unsettlingly alongside a timer, which counts down from 10 seconds. Several having another person touching them while a stopwatch counts down time.

Earlier also another Italy’s court had acquitted a 65-year-old man accused of inappropriately touching women colleagues and the court ruled that he was driven by an immature sense of humour. Sometimes this shows just how normalised sexual harassment is in Italian society. 

It is believed that in many European countries casual sexism is prevalent. It doesn’t raise an eyebrow when an Italian minister boasts of sleeping with 1,500 women or a former premier promising a football team that he owned “a coachload of whores” if they won the next match.

What happened in Italy happens everywhere. No country can claim an exception. Men are men. But when the courts fail us, it is really something very serious. The first step has to overhaul the judiciary and put some serious thought in the process of selection of judges. 

In India that could never happen at least what we can see right now. Here judges select judge. And like in the democratic India where the practice is followed that a politician’s son has a right to have a seat in parliament so why should judges be behind?

Now the serious question is - why a woman who suffers harassment would report an incident? After all, reporting abuse is just not worth it. The student also said in plain language that she felt doubly betrayed - by her school and by the justice system.

And that is how silence protects the aggressors.