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Abstract

Introduction: Globally, rape of women is a serious health, social and religiousconcern and is considered as a violation of women basic human right. Objective: The aim wasto ascertain incidence of natural sexual offence (rape) in Punjab and to analyze the data withrespect to sociodemographic characteristics, findings of medicolegal examination and resultsof evidence collected from victims of sexual assault. Material and Method: This retrospectivestudy was conducted on 148 female victims of rape brought to Forensic Medicine Departmentof King Edward Medical University Lahore, Fatima Jinnah Medical College Lahore and NishtarMedical College, Multan from January 2012 to December 2013 for medicolegal examination.Details pertaining to socio-demographic profile of the victim, incident, findings of medicalexamination and results of evidence collected were noted. Data was analyzed using SPSSversion 20. Result: The most affected age group was 11-20 years (60.8 %). Majority of victimswere unmarried (70.9%), non- working (79.72%) and of lower socioeconomic class (71.6%) Allwere Muslims (100%). The highest number of victims was examined on the second day (24.3%).31% cases were of gang rape. Majority knew the assailant (45.9%). The commonest place ofoffence was an isolated place (66.2%) Extragenital injuries were seen in 10.8% cases. Hymenwas intact in 3.3% victims. The tears of hymen were old in 77.6% and fresh in 22.3% cases.Semen was detected in 18.2% cases. 1.3% victims were pregnant and 4% were intoxicated.Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of addressing rape as an important healthissue.