A Spanish judge has sparked outrage among women's rights groups by dismissing a case that involved women being filmed by hidden cameras while urinating in public as there were no toilets and the videos then being posted on porn websites, according to a BBC report.

Films of some 80 women and girls were made as they urinated in a side street because of a lack of facilities at local festival in the north-western town of Cervo. In many cases the footage showed close-ups of the women's genitals and faces, the BBC report states.

The videos were uploaded to porn sites, with some of them even charging money to view.

On discovering this, many of those affected took legal action in 2020, calling for the recordings, whose author remains unknown, to be investigated on the grounds that their right to privacy had been violated.

A local judge, Pablo Muñoz Vázquez, shelved the case, triggering an appeal led by the Women for Equality Burela (Bumei) association.

The same judge has now confirmed his initial decision not to proceed, on the grounds that because the videos were recorded in a public place they cannot be deemed criminal.

According to court documents, the judge also decided that there was "no intention to violate the physical or moral resistance" of the women affected.

One of the victim’s was cited as saying after the hearing,  "They are basically saying it is OK if someone records you on the street and then they post it on a porn site and they make money from it."

The decision not to continue with the case has provoked protests and an online campaign under the hashtag #XustizaMaruxaina (Justice Maruxaina).