A B S T RA C T
Introduction: Cases of child sexual assault are rising day by day and it remains one of the serious offences against children of tender age. However, it's reporting within 24 hours is yet to improve and needs betterment in various aspects. Material and Methods: This is a prospective observational type of study conducted on alleged cases of sexual assault with ageless than 18 years, during the study period, where valid consent to participate in the study was present after approval from the institutional ethics committee. Results:Out of total 534 victims, 217 (40.64%) victims registered the complaint within 24 hrs of the incidence and females constituted the majority of the cases (89.40%). The majority of the victims (65.90%) were from urban-dwellings and percentage of case reporting was highest (100%) in the age group of 0-6 years, which declined with an increase in age. Reporting in urban population was higher (42.68%) and mother was the primary complainant in majority cases (41.47%). In majority of cases, the assailant was known to the victim and boyfriend was most common assailant (37.33%) with predominance in 12-18 years age group (88.89%); while known family members were significant assailants (35.08%) for age group 6-12 years. Conclusion:It seems that, rather than strangers, known members are more often involved in such cases and parents along with children from such vulnerable age groups should be actively made more aware of related facts through education and other means.