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

Background: 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 1 st August, 2015 to 31 st 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.