Sheffield MP to challenge the government over upskirting
Gill Furnis will ask the Justice Minister what he's doing to tackle it today
A Sheffield MP wants action from the government to stop inappropriate pictures being taken of people without their consent.
A campaign to make so-called 'upskirting' illegal has been gathering pace after almost 100,000 people signed a petition calling for it to made into a criminal offence.
Sheffield Hillsborough and Brighside Mp Gill Furniss will ask the Justice Secretary to act in Parliament today.
She says it can have an awful impact on victims:
"It's a very upsetting thing to happen - it's a huge infringement of your privacy and is just a damn liberty isn't it?! This happens to very young girls - there's evidence there was a 10 year old that police have recorded. It's really close to my heart that we need to establish that this behaviour is completely wrong.
"There is a lot of sexual harassment in schools that starts at a very early age - it just seems a systematic problem we've got that seems to be going through the generations. You would hope that this would stop people doing it because they don't want to face the consequences of the legal system."
Stats show girls as young as 10 have been victim of upskirting.
Gill wants a change in law so that those targetted can successfully get justice:
"We're asking for an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act so that it can become a criminal offence and then prosecutions can take place. One hundred thousand members of the general public have signed a petition calling for this to be made a specific sexual offence. That's why I'll be asking the minister why they're not acting yet and I'll be pushing them to act."