It does in Italy and can earn you a ten day suspended sentence.
LECCO, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian man was given a suspended jail sentence for staring too intensely at a woman sitting in front of him on a train. A judge sentenced the man in his 30s, whose name was not revealed, to 10 days in prison and a 40 euro fine after a 55-year old woman filed a complaint for sexual harassment.If the man spoke, the judge may have really thrown the book at the accused.His lawyer said on Friday he would appeal the sentence. The court will explain its verdict later.
The two met on two separate occasions in 2005 on a commuter train going from Lecco, a town in northern Italy, to Milan.
The first time, the man sat next to the woman but she felt he had moved too close for comfort. The next day, the man sat in front of the same woman and according to her complaint, stared at her for the whole journey.
The two did not speak.
Is the world going insane? A month or so ago, a South Korean woman said taking a woman's photo even in public without her permission constituted harassment? I wonder how many years that will add up to for all the photos I took while on vacation over the years where people are in the background. Tourists will need to get signed releases in the future.
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Comments (9)
Has the world gone insane? ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by DoubleU | April 20, 2008 9:55 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Has the world gone insane? YES. This story is similar, but even more sad Follow this link.
It has been cross posted so many places I can't give a good link to the original blog.
1. Posted by DoubleU | April 20, 2008 9:55 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 09:55
2. Posted by Jay Tea | April 20, 2008 9:57 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Jail me now.
J.
2. Posted by Jay Tea | April 20, 2008 9:57 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 09:57
3. Posted by Michael | April 20, 2008 10:35 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Liberalism run amok. I guess Brian, Herman, other idiot trolls would agree with all of this.
3. Posted by Michael | April 20, 2008 10:35 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 10:35
4. Posted by epador | April 20, 2008 10:58 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I've been to Italy and on the trains. Someone staring at you continuously for 45 minutes in that space could indeed be harassment, though the particulars in this case are not well revealed. The ingrained cultural harassment of women in Italy is being attempted to be changed through laws such as this. He got a relatively small fine and a suspended sentence. I think that litterers in my state get bigger fines and sentences.
4. Posted by epador | April 20, 2008 10:58 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 10:58
5. Posted by Mac Lorry | April 20, 2008 1:57 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
No doubt Muslims hear about this and say to themselves; this is what you get for letting women run around in public without wearing a gunny sack. Maybe they have a point.
5. Posted by Mac Lorry | April 20, 2008 1:57 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 13:57
6. Posted by John F Not Kerry | April 20, 2008 10:34 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
"...the man sat in front of the same woman and according to her complaint, stared at her for the whole journey."
Pervert.
6. Posted by John F Not Kerry | April 20, 2008 10:34 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2008 22:34
7. Posted by Gandalf | April 21, 2008 2:33 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Those who speak of what they do not know, find too late that prudent silence is wise..."
Clearly you have never ridden any sort of European public transport. There are social rules that must be followed. Eye contact is limited, as is speech. Sad as it may be, those are the rules.
For someone in that situation to stare at someone else for 45 minutes solid would be akin to repeatedly rubbing someone's butt or breast in the Midwest. In that case, the man got off very light indeed.
Must we turn every news story from Europe into nonsensical expositories on the evils of liberalism? There are certainly enough real examples of that. When you start on stuff like this, it just makes us look uneducated and invalidates it when we point out a real circumstance of the foolishness of liberalism.
7. Posted by Gandalf | April 21, 2008 2:33 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2008 14:33
8. Posted by hcddbz | April 21, 2008 3:04 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I would like to see the transcripts.
They did not talk and when the 55 year old lady gets off the train she has police find and arrest the 30yr old man.
Was it beucause he sat next to her the day before? Maybe this was what they used to establish a pattern?
According to the woman, the young man sat "too close" to her after asking her to move her coat. During the second encounter, he sat opposite her and stared at her in a way she found "impertinent and inappropriate".
When the woman got off the train, she asked police to find the offender, and filed a lawsuit against him. The man, however, said he was looking at the woman only because she happened to be sitting directly in front of him.
8. Posted by hcddbz | April 21, 2008 3:04 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2008 15:04
9. Posted by Mac Lorry | April 22, 2008 6:45 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
If that were true the seats wouldn't be configured to face each other. An arrangement designed to promote communication and interaction, not stifle them.
The fact that liberalism has created a hostile public environment is not a trivial story.
A bigger fool are those who heed not their own advice...
9. Posted by Mac Lorry | April 22, 2008 6:45 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on April 22, 2008 06:45