Profile of victims examined under POCSO Act 2012, in JNIMS, Imphal

Sexual assault on women and children is one of the most heinous crimes. Now with civilisation going forward, sexual crime against children has gone up and a serious understanding on ways to prevent and cope with it is the need of the hour for a better society. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in JNIMS, Imphal, from 1st August, 2015 to 31st July, 2018 in which 80 victims of sexual assault cases were brought for medico legal examination. Results: The most vulnerable age group was 14-17 years (60%). 85% of the victims were students. The commonest place of assault was the house of relatives of accuse (32.5%). In 96.2% of cases, the act was committed by known persons. The natures of occurrence of sexual relationship in 46.3% cases were of elopement. Maximum (35%) cases were medico-legally examined between 72 hrs to 1 week of incidents. Hymen was found torn with old tears in 59.5% cases. Conclusion: The study shows that young girls of 14-17 years are more vulnerable to sexual assault. So, a need to spread awareness among parents and children on sexual crimes and the benefit of early reporting and medical examination is required, as delay causes loss of evidences.