Sexual Offenses and Their Types

There are four types of sexual offenses. They are:

• Natural (peno-vaginal route)
• Unnatural (non peno-vaginal route)
• Sexual perversions (Paraphilia)
• Sex-linked offenses (voyeurism, stalking)

This blog has all the information regarding sexual offenses and the various IPCs that make them a punishable offense in India. 

01. Natural

• Rape
  • Forceful sexual act.
• Incest
  • A sexual relationship between blood relations
  • Not a crime in India
  • No IPC for Incest
  • 3 complexes
    • Electra: Daughter and father (D E F)
    • Oedipus: Son and Mother (O+O)
    • Pharaon: Brother and sister
• Adultery
  • Extramarital affairs.
  • Decriminalized in India.
  • Civil case
  • Strong ground for divorce

02. Unnatural - IPC 377 (Unnatural)

• Anal/ Greek love/ Sodomy/ Buggery
  • It can be between male-male and male-female.
  • Active agent (adult) - Pederast
  • Passive agent
    • Child - Catamite (Pedarasty)
    • Old - Gerontophilia
• Oral/ Mouth/ Coitus per os/ Sin of Gomorrah
  • Mainly done with child
  • Fellatio - Oral stimulation of male genitalia
  • Cunnilingus - Oral stimulation of female genitalia
• Animal sex/ Bestiality
  • Lower animals are involved.
  • Usually, human sperm is found inside animals.
• Lesbianism/ Sapphism/ Tribadism
  • Active agent - Butch/ Dyke
  • Passive agent - Femme

Punishment Under 377 IPC

• Minimum 10 years
• Punishment is given only when no consent is given.
• Punishment is inevitable if minors (<18 years) are involved.

Medical Examination in Sodomy

• Active agent: Same as rape cases.
• Passive agent: Knee-Elbow Position (Anal canal/ Rectal canal/ Perianal area)

Rape

Forceful Sexual Act is Punishable Under Section 375, 376 IPC

• Both natural and unnatural
• 375 - Definition
• 376 - Punishment

Definition - IPC 375

• A man is said to commit rape if he penetrates his penis or penis-like object/ body part,
  • Vagina
  • Oral cavity
  • Anal canal
  • Urethra

Conditions

• Against her will
• Without her consent (will)
• With her consent if the consent is obtained by putting her in fear of death or hurt.
• Impersonation (as husband)/ fraud (telling unmarried for consent, even if married)
• Intoxication/ insane (influence of drug or alcohol) - 90 IPC discussed in Forensic Psychiatry
• With or without her consent when she is under 18 years of age.
• Unable to communicate the consent.

Even if a girl gives consent below 18 years, it is known as statutory rape.

The Quick Pills

• The slightest penetration of the penis within the vulva (labia majora) or other, with or without emission of semen or rupture of hymen, constitutes rape.
• Hymen rupture can never decide a rape.
• Under the law, rape can only be committed by a man, and a woman cannot rape a man (except in France, where even a female can be charged with rape)
• Females can be charged with gang rape.
• In India, there is no age limit under which a boy is considered physically incapable of committing rape.
• The minimum age for giving consent for sex is 18 years.
• Medical proof of intercourse is not legal proof of rape.

• Medical interventions with consent are not rape.
• POCSO Act - Protection of Child against Sexual Offense (applicable if a <18 years is involved)

Punishment of Rape - IPC 376

• Subsection-1
  • She was punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be <7 years.
  • It may extend up to 10 years or life imprisonment.
  • Also, be liable to a fine.
• Subsection-2
  • For the serious form of rape as described below.
  • Punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be <10 years.
  • It may extend up to life imprisonment.
  • This punishment is for rape by a
    • Police officer (police custody)
    • Member of armed forces
    • Management or staff of the jail
    • Management or staff of the hospital
    • Relative
    • Guardian
    • Teacher
    • Communal violence
  • Rape on,
    • Pregnant women
    • Insane people with physical or mental disabilities
    • People who are incapable of giving consent
    • <18 years
  • Committed rape repeatedly.
  • Causing grievous bodily harm or endangering life.
• Subsection-3
  • Girl <16 years
  • A minimum of 20 years imprisonment can extend up to natural life imprisonment.

Extensions in IPC 376

• Made after the Nirbhaya case

Major Changes Promised in Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018

SAFE Kit - Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Kit 

• It is used for both the victim and the accused.
• Contents
  • Bags and sheets for evidence collection.
  • Swabs for collecting fluids from the,
    • Lips
    • Cheeks
    • Thighs
    • Vagina
    • Anus
    • Buttocks
  • Clear glass slides
  • Self-sealing envelopes for preserving the victims.
    • Clothes
    • Head hair
    • Pubic hair
    • Blood samples
  • Nail pick for scraping debris from beneath the nails
  • White sheets to catch physical evidence stripped from the body
  • Documentation forms
  • Labels
  • Sterile water and saline

03. Sexual Perversions

• Sexual perversions are also known as Paraphilia
• Abnormal acts to get sexual gratification.
• No sex

Types of Sexual Perversions are:

• Sadism/ algolagnia: Getting satisfied by giving pain to a partner.
• Masochism/passive algolagnia: Getting satisfied by receiving pain from a partner.
• Bondage: sadism + masochism
• Lust murder: Murder serves as a stimulus for a sexual act
• Urolagnia/Undinism/urophilia: Urine smell or touch and sight
• Uranism: Sexual gratification by fingering, fondling, licking, and sucking of the genitalia of opposite sex.
• Coprophilia: Fecal smell and touch
• Sexual oralism
  • Fellatio: Oral stimulation of male genitalia
  • Cunnilingus: Oral stimulation of female genitalia
• Exhibitionism
  • Showing private parts
  • Punishable for 3 months under 294 IPC
  • It has the following,
    • Steaking: Running naked in a public place
    • Mooning: Showing the bare buttocks (Mnemonic: Moon is just like buttocks)
    • Flashing: Momentarily exposing body parts by quickly moving the clothing 
• Necrophilia and Necrophagia
  • Necrophilia: Sex with a dead body
  • Necrophagia: Eating dead body parts.
  • Punishable under 297 IPC up to 1 year
• Transvestism
  • Another name: Eonism
  • Common in male
  • Wearing clothes of the opposite sex
• Fatichism
  • Common in male
  • Satisfied with inanimate objects (bra and underpants) of the opposite sex.
• Voyeurism/ Scoptophilia/ Peeping Tom
  • Comes under 354C IPC (C for Seeing a Girl)
  • Watching the removal of clothes by a girl
  • Watching match girl take a bath.
  • Mixoscopia: A type of voyeurism in which sexual gratification is obtained by the sight of others engaged in sex.
• Frotteurism
  • Punishable under 290 IPC for 3 months
  • Rubbing private parts against a female's buttocks or thigh
• Masturbation/ Onanism/ Ipsation
  • Self-stimulation of genitalia.
  • Punishable under 290 IPC if done in public.
• Coprolalia: Obscene language
• Scatalogia: Obscene telephone calls.
• Partialism: Sexual interest in a specific body part other than genitalia.
• Klismaphilia: Sexual gratification by enema
• Ecouterism: Listening to the sounds associated with sexual intercourse.
• Nymphomania: Excessive sexual desire in females.
• Satyriasis: Increased sexual desire in males.
• Dippoldism
  • Dippold, a German schoolmaster
  • Teacher beating a student for sexual satisfaction.
• Gerontophilia: Sex with old
• Pedophilia: Sex with child
• Narratophilia: Sexual stimulation by reading erotic material.
• Somnophilia: Sexual arousal by a stranger who is asleep.
• Pyromania: Sexually satisfied by setting fire.
• Playing the bagpipes: Having intercourse under the armpits.
• Trollism: Intercourse between three people

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