A French court has received nationwide criticism after it ruled that an 11-year-old had "consensual sex" with a 28-year-old man. The man apparently lured the minor to his apartment in Paris in April and was accused of sexually assaulting her, but he will be charged with sexual abuse of a minor.
The man approached the girl and told her he "would teach her how to kiss." The girl is understood to have followed him back to his home where he had sex with her.
When the girl informed her parents, they approached the police and said their daughter was raped. The family argued that the girl was "paralysed" with fear at that time.
"She thought it was too late, that she didn't have the right to protest, that it wouldn't make any difference, so she went into autopilot, without emotion and without reaction," French news site Mediapart quoted the mother of the victim as saying.
But prosecutors said the man cannot be charged with rape as there was no "violence, constraint, threat or surprise." The man has been charged with committing sexual violence against a minor.
"Committing a sexual offence against a minor under the age of 15 without violence, constraint, threat or surprise is punished by five years' imprisonment and a fine of €75,000 (£65,800)," France's penal code says.
The court's decision to not charge the man with rape has sparked outrage in France, with children's rights groups and experts slamming the verdict.
"Submitting is not consenting. Rape victims sometimes switch off and no longer feel fear. This is especially true among child victims," an expert told the Le Figaro newspaper.
Children's rights groups in France have now requested the lawmakers to introduce "a legal age under which sexual consent is never presumed" to protect children from predators.
"The question of consent or its absence should never even be asked when it comes to rape victims who are minors," Children's rights group Le Voix de l'Enfant said in a statement on Tuesday.
