Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge regarding legal options decreases the chance of any unwanted sexual harassment. Early reporting helps reduce the mental harassment faced by the victim.
Study design: A cross sectional survey was done among 200 young female adults studying in degree courses in the age group of 17-21 years from four selected colleges of Delhi University, two co-educational colleges and two women colleges by convenient sampling method. Tool used self-structured questionnaire for assessing the awareness of Young female adults about legal aspects against sexual harassment.
Results: Most of the subjects wanted legal actions to be taken against harasser and were in favour of social punishment as well as legal penalties. Only one tenth of the subjects felt safe with the police officials or at police station and was having faith on services on police for action against sexual harassment as they feared harm to self. There is need for creating awareness about where to approach for help and reporting regarding any sexual harassment incidence faced by victim.

Keywords: Sexual harassment; Emergency department; Forensic nursing; Legal system