Volume : 6, Issue : 9, September - 2017

A Study on Sexual Assault Victims Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital

Dr Amol B Shinde, Dr. Deepali S Jadhav

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;<b><span lang="EN-IN">Introduction: </span></b><span lang="EN-IN">Sexual assault on women is an evil trend in the society.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> Rape and abuse of women are common occurrences, which, many a times go unspoken due to social stigma or fear of retribution. Healthcare workers play an important role in this regard because they are the first person who examine the rape victims. They prepare a documented record of medical condition of rape victim and do relevant sample collection.</span></p> <p class="Default" style="line-height:115%"><b><span lang="EN-IN">Aim: </span></b><span lang="EN-IN">The objective was to reveal the socio demographic profile &amp; medico legal consequences of rape victims who presented to the emergency department in tertiary hospital, Pune after sexual assault. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default" style="line-height:115%"><b><span lang="EN-IN">Materials &amp; Methods:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">Data was retrospectively collected from the medico legal register of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology between January 2015 to June 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:2.0pt;text-align:justify;mso-layout-grid-align:&#10;none;text-autospace:none"><b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Results: </span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">We noted a marked increase in the number of cases. Majority of victims were between 11-30 years. Use of sedatives and physical trauma was not common. Victims often knew the perpetrator of the event. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;&#10;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">The victims may or may not have detectable physical injuries. In some cases even in consensual relationship complain of sexual assault comes into play when each of trust results.</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"> Most (65.7%) of them reported after 7 days of the incident. Major degrees of perineal tears were seen in young victims. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Calii&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;&#10;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii;mso-fareast-theme-font:&#10;minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;&#10;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN;mso-fareast-language:&#10;EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Conclusion: </span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Calii&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;&#10;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii;mso-fareast-theme-font:&#10;minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;&#10;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN;mso-fareast-language:&#10;EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">This type of study may help to enhance public awareness, which can increase &nbsp;&nbsp;reporting of incidents and to frame appropriate measures to diminish such events in society</span></p>