Trends of sexual assault cases

The World Health Organization defines sexual violence as "any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person's sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting ". This includes rape, indecent assault, sexual harassment and threats. This study was conducted in the casualty unit over a period of two years (September 2018 to September 2020), total 35 cases of sexual assault examined 32(91.4%) were of female sexual assault and 3 (8.6%) were of male sexual assault. The age of victim ranged from 2 years to 36 years. The most vulnerable age group was 10–20 years (71.4%). Most of the victims were of Sikhs religion(51.4%). 60% cases belong to rural background. 42.8% victims were students. In 71.5% of cases, the act was committed by familiar persons. Maximum 20% cases were medico-legally examined within one day of incidence. In 68.7% cases victim was unmarried and 3.1% cases victim was pregnant. The general attitude of society needs to change in favour of the dignity of women and children.