Study to access the effectiveness of forensic training of medical and nursing officers of urban and rural health centers on identification of injuries and medico-legal evidence collection in sexual assault and domestic violence cases in Karnataka: A Randomized controlled trial.

Gender based violence, one of the key indicators in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2020-21 and the results showed 29.3% of the married women in the age group of 18-49 are experiencing spousal violence (sexual and physical). Meanwhile, 1.5% of the women experienced sexual violence by the age of 18 years. These figures are noticeable when seeing the current population of India. As per the crime Records Bureau of India, latest report 10 lakhs crimes are against the body of the individuals. These crime required prompt forensic enquiry and medico-legal evidence collection.

The current study focuses on the forensic training of medical and nursing officers to improve the skill and knowledge in identifying and collecting medico-legal evidences from victims of sexual assault and  domestic violence. the research also focuses on developing an in-service curriculum through a three stage Delphi method for the medical and nursing officers for improving the medico- legal competencies.