Vulnerable victims of sexual assault.

Sexual assault is one of the heinous crimes of present day society. Although it has always been evident, in recent times there has been a steady increase in the rate of sexual assault cases. The aim of this study was to identify the groups most at risk. Therefore it includes only cases of sex offences and sex offences with kidnapping. Information was obtained by interviewing the victims and accompanying persons, and from records submitted by the investigating officers. Our study reveals sexual assault commonly occurs among the age group of 16-19 years (60.8%), mostly at night (53.23%), inside the house (87%) and usually by a close acquaintance (61%). The majority of the victims were unmarried (84.7%), lived in rural areas (65.2%), were unemployed (93.5%), of less educated or illiterate groups (88%) and found to be mentally fit (97%). The victims were mostly drawn from low socio-economic groups.