Study of Profile of Accused of Sexual Offences in Thoothudi Medical College- A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Sexual violence is a major public health and human rights problem with consequences on women’s physical,
mental sexual and reproductive health. Data on sexual violence typically come from police, clinical settings,
nongovernmental organisations and survey research. The magnitude of the problem of sexual violence may
be viewed as tip of iceberg floating in water. There is limited amount of information on sexually violent
men, it appears that sexual violence is found in almost all countries in all socioeconomic classes and in all
age groups from childhood onwards. Data on alleged accused also show that most direct their acts at women
whom they already know. A total of 70 cases were analysed, 40 (57.14%) cases belong to Hindu religion, 44
(62.85%) cases were unmarried, 32 (45.71%) cases were illiterate, 26 (37.14%) cases the offence occurred
in open space, 34(48.57%) cases the incident was consensual act. In 35(50%) cases the alleged accused and
victim was lovers, the age of the accused in 38(54.28%) cases were between 19-25 years, age of the victims
in 55 (78.57 %) cases was in between 13 – 18 years. In examination of alleged accused there were no scars,
ulcer, sinus discharge and sexually transmitted disease in any of the case. Sexual violence has generally been
a neglected area of research in most parts of the world, yet the evidence suggests that it is a public health
problem of substantial proportions. Much more needs to be done both to understand the phenomenon and
to prevent it.