Adolescent girl students more prone to sexual assaults, reveals study

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 23

Adolescent girls in the age group of 14-17 years and students are most prone to sexual assaults and the residence of the accused is mostly the place of crime. In more than 86 per cent cases, the accused was known to the victim.

As per a study conducted by the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Junga (Shimla), 441 rape cases happened in four districts of Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Kinnaur over a period of four years revealed that 1.48 per cent of female victims were murdered after sexual assault, 0.99 per cent committed suicide and 6.45 per cent victims got pregnant.

Sharing the details of the report with The Tribune, FSL director Arun Sharma said the study stressed that serious efforts should be made to enhance public awareness, exercising caution while trusting the “known” people and training the girls in self-defence and combat exercises to eliminate sexual violence.

“Guard yourself and your loved and instill confidence in children so that they feel free to report any abnormal behaviour by anyone, especially relatives and known persons,” he added.

Aimed at analysing the trend of sexual violence with respect to socio-demographic characteristics, the relationship between accused and victim, medico-legal examination and evaluation of role of forensic examination, the study pointed out that the victims were female in 95.89 per cent cases, male in 2.66 per cent and bestiality in 1.45 per cent.

The study revealed that incidences of sexual assault were reported maximum in Shimla district followed by Solan, Sirmaur and Kinnaur district. The common site of offence was the house of accused (33.33 per cent) and most vulnerable age group was 14-17 years while 41.06 per cent of the alleged sexual assault victims were students.

In 86.76 per cent cases, sexual crimes were committed by the person familiar to the victim. Out of 441 rape victims, 80.91 per cent were unmarried and 16.18 per cent were married while invalid consensual rape was found in 59.80 per cent cases followed by forcible rape in 23.77 per cent and consensual rape in 14.46 per cent cases.

Maximum numbers of 27.05 per cent victims were medico-legally examined second day of the assault. In most of the cases, the victim had bath and genital wash after the sexual act before the medical examination and evidence was destroyed, the study said.

The most commonly sexual assault crimes were reported in monsoon or rainy season (30.68 per cent) followed by winter (29.47 per cent), summer (25.85 per cent) and autumn (14 per cent).