‘Upskirting’ now a serious criminal offence in UK

After an 18-month campaign, launched by Gina Martin, the bill to outlaw upskirting finally gets the Royal Assent, meaning offenders will face being jailed for over two years and being put on the sex offenders register.

The previous laws against upskirting had various loopholes which the offenders used for outwitting the officials and escape from facing any actions against the crime. Previously, upskirting could only be prosecuted as a crime against public decency.

Gina Martin, a victim of upskirting, launched a campaign against these loopholes in the law after she was upskirted at an outdoor festival. After complaining about the incident to the police that took place with her, she came to know that the culprit actually hasn’t broken any law according to what the existed laws said. She was told by the police that they could not make a case as she was wearing underwear at the time and therefore the picture clicked was “not graphics”.

The campaign was a result of what Gina Martin faced 18-months ago, with the sole aim of getting women more secure in the UK. The bill that was approved by the UK’s House of Lords earlier this year officially came into effect on Feb 12, 2019, to which Gina Martin said: