Sex Assault and Offenders–An Overview of Victim-offender Relationship on Cases of Sexual Offences

Sexual crimes against women and children are one of the most common crimes that occur in India today. Everyday newspaper articles, news shows on television, and social media keep reporting about sexual assaults and rape incidents. In all these crimes being reported, one thing constantly stands out: the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. When any person thinks about a crime as vicious as rape, they generally associate the perpetrator being a stranger but in reality, what is seen is that the assailant is most often known to the victim. The aims and objectives were to study the relationship of the victim with the offender and analyze this relation further in terms of particulars of the relationship and social demographics. This study was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Guwahati Medical College, and Hospital for a period of one year in cases of female victims of alleged sexual crimes brought for medico-legal examination. From the 140 cases studied, it was found that 129 cases had known offenders, most victims were minors, illiterate, from rural areas, and belonging to lower economic strata, severity of injuries were higher with unknown offenders. It was concluded that most sexual crimes are thought to being perpetrated by strangers, but this study shows the opposite, and the people closest to the victim are often the ones who are the perpetrators.