Determining the Socio-Demographic Profile of Past Five-Year Cases of Child Sexual Abuse of Sahibzada Ajit Singh (SAS) Nagar District, India

Abstract

The current study aims to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of SAS Nagar district child sexual abuse cases during the last five years. The research was carried out on 114 cases of child sexual abuse registered under the POCSO Act, 2012. The period chosen was from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2017, located in the Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district, Punjab, India. There were the most child sexual abuse cases in 2017, with 34, followed by 33 in 2015. The cases of female sexual assaults (92.98%) outnumbered male sexual assaults (2.76%). The accused’s house (22.80%) was the commonplace of offense, followed by the victim’s home (20.17%). The investigation discovered that the most vulnerable age group was 11-15 years (46.49%). 51.75% of the alleged sexual assault victims were students, followed by 33.33% of school dropouts. 57.89% of victims were Hindus pursued by Sikhs (28.07%) and Muslims (10.52%). There were 111 unmarried victims (97.36%), and three married victims (2.63). Sexual offences were most frequently committed by someone known to the victim (89.48%). The majority of instances (35.08%) were recorded on the second day of occurrence. The community's ability to prevent this heinous crime depends on the development of moral values and ethics among those who are in the transitional stage of cultural devaluation, as well as the organization of programs to prevent minor sexual assault. This is important because the biggest threat to minors comes not from strangers but from known and close individuals.