For OCTOBER 2000 issue

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION

CAN A WOMAN BE VIOLATED DURING SLEEP

-Dr. Anil Aggrawal

Believe it or not, this question has been asked a number of times from me in various courts of law. You may well ask me, “under what circumstances does the court ask this somewhat weird question?” Well, imagine the following situation first.

A woman has had some sort of difference with a man. He could be her lover or simply any other man. The difference could be on any matter. If he happens to be her lover, it could be that he has refused to marry her. If he happens to be some other man, probably the difference arose because of some old family dispute, or may be over some land or money. The differences could arise virtually on any matter.

Now let us imagine that she blackmails him and says that if he does not agree to her wishes, (or if he does not do as she wishes) she would get even with him. He doesn’t care two hoots for her and asks her to go to hell. So instead of going to hell, she goes to the police station and tells them that this man has violated her. Now if the man had really violated her, she must have screamed and struggled. This would result in many people of the neighborhood listening to her cries. She should also show many marks of violence such as abrasions, bruises etc. on her arms, legs, and particularly on her breasts, cheeks, inside of thighs and over her vulva. Since the man never tried to violate her, she would not show any of these signs. A medical examination would quickly prove that there was no struggle. Now how does she prove her point? Simple! She says she was violated during sleep!!

That is how the question arises in a court of law. Let me tell you, it is extremely difficult to tell whether a woman is speaking the truth or not in such circumstances. Personally I believe that a woman can not be violated during sleep. However deep she may be sleeping, the attempts to uncover her – especially her private parts, and certainly an attempt to thrust a male organ in female private parts, is surely going to wake her up. However there are several ancient texts which assert that this is possible.

We have another method to find out if the woman is speaking the truth or not – by examining her private parts. Overlying the vaginal covering, there lies a minute membrane called the hymen. Interestingly the word hymen comes from the ancient Greek mythological God of marriage and nuptial song. Hymen is aptly named after him, as this structure is supposed to be broken on the first marriage night.

Shapes of hymen

Look at the first figure

(Editor please reproduce the figure “hymens, types of.jpg” here)

This figure shows some interesting shapes of hymen seen during medicolegal practice. On the top right you can see an infantile type of hymen which is seen in young infants. Then we have annular and semi lunar types which are the commonest types of hymens seen in medicolegal practice. Annular hymen has a central hole. It is the type of hymen which most lay people have in mind their popular perception. Semi lunar means something which resembles a “half moon”, and indeed it is rather like a crescentic moon.

A rare type of hymen is the imperforate hymen. Readers can see in the picture that this does not have any hole whatsoever. This is a rare type of hymen, and when the girl reaches the age of menstruation, the menstrual blood can not come out of this imperforate hymen. Thus she must see a doctor immediately. The doctor would perform a very simple operation to make a hole in this hymen, so that the menstrual blood can come out. Obviously if a female contacts us with a charge of rape, and we find that she has an imperforate hymen, it is clear that she is speaking a lie.

Then there is a type which is called “cribriform”, which means “like a sieve”. As the readers can see, this hymen rather looks like a sieve, as it has several holes in it. Menstrual blood can come out of these holes, but on the marriage night, this hymen breaks and a rather big hole appears.

Septate hymen is one which shows two holes instead of one. Many lay people think that these are two vaginas or two “holes” in a woman. This is not the case. The “hole” or the vaginal opening is just one, but it is covered by a septate hymen, which gives a false appearance of two holes.

Vertical type shows a vertical slit, which is very clear from the photograph. Now we come to the last two types which are most important from a medicolegal standpoint. The eighth type of hymen (the second in the third row), shows the normal injury at coitus. Readers can see that it shows a small tear at the lower part. This is the injury which tells us that the woman has really been assaulted, and she might be speaking the truth. If she shows any other type of hymen (shown in previous pictures), we are almost sure, that she is not speaking the truth.

The last type of hymen is seen in married women, who have experienced repeated sexual intercourses, and even child birth. In these women repeated sexual intercourse has so completely destroyed the hymen that it reduces to certain tags, which go by the name Carunculae myrtiformes. The word comes from Latin Caro meaning flesh. Caruncle is a diminutive of Caro, meaning small bits of flesh. The word Myrtiformes comes from Latin myrtea, which is an epithet of Venus, the Goddess of love and beauty. So the word literally translates into “small fleshy bits of Venus”, which as one can appreciate is quite an apt description.

Now I want to tell you about a special type of hymen which can create lots of confusion. A young inexperienced forensic expert might on examination of this hymen think that it has actually been broken, but in fact, this is a special type of hymen called the “fimbriated hymen”.

(Editor, please reproduce the figure 001.jpg here)

Now look at the next figure. The first appearance (A) is that of a broken hymen. The doctor might think that the sexual assault has actually happened, and he may give the report accordingly. But the second figure (B) gives the appearance of the same hymen, when it is stretched. Clearly we don’t see any tear here. To be sure, there are some indentations in the rim of the hymen, but none of these indentations go upto the “rim” of the vaginal opening. If there were true tears (caused by sexual intercourse), at least one of these indentations must have gone to the rim.

Another figure of fimbriated hymen would make things clear in readers minds.

(Editor, please reproduce the figure 004.jpg here)

Now look at the next figure.

(Editor, please reproduce the figure 002.jpg here)

This is a real case of rupture of hymen. If such a female comes to us, we would have no hesitation in saying that she is speaking the truth. This is not a case of fimbriated hymen, but that of true rupture.

It would however be a mistake to think that a sexual intercourse is bound to rupture a hymen. We have seen several cases, in which sexual intercourse does not rupture the hymen. In fact intact hymens have been seen in married women, and even prostitutes! The next figure shows the hymen of a 16 year old girl who was married for some time, and was even pregnant! The hymen, as can be seen is intact.

The following figure however shows an intact hymen in an adult who is really a virgin.

(Editor, please reproduce the figure 006.jpg here)

It is rather difficult to make out the difference between intact hymens of two women, one of which has experience repeated sexual intercourse (as shown in figure 003.jpg and in 006.jpg). However a woman who has experienced repeated sexual intercourse would show a rather lax hymen. But only very experienced forensic experts can make out this difference.

Readers may ask how can we make out between such subtle differences. Well, there are special instruments to do that. The next picture shows the photograph of these instruments.

(Editor, please reproduce the figure 005.jpg here)

These are small glass rods, which are fitted with glass spheres of various sizes. Only three are shown in this figure, but usually four are used in medicolegal practice. Previously they were made only of glass, but now pyrex spheres are also available. These spheres are introduced in the vagina and then slowly retracted out. The hymeneal edges fall flat on these spheres and then the doctor can easily make out the difference between the fimbriated hymen and the ruptured hymen.

In our medicolegal practice several cases come like this which we have to solve. Obviously we have to be on the lookout for such things. A small mistake can cause misadministration of justice. Practice of forensic medicine is not very easy, as is commonly believed. It requires the best of minds, and only the best of minds can survive in this specialty.

Captions to figures

hymens, types of.jpg: Various types of hymens seen in medicolegal practice

001.jpg: Fimbriated Hymen: A. This form of hymen often appears ruptured until it is put on the stretch. B. After stretching by pulling the labia well outwards it presents this appearance

002.jpg: Deflorated hymen. The hymen shows a rupture in the lower segment. The urethra is artificially distended.

003.jpg: Unruptured hymen in a girl 16 years of age and six months pregnant

004.jpg: Intact fimbriated hymen in an adult. The irregularities of the margin are indentations, not ruptures

005.jpg: Graduated plastic rods for deployment of hymeneal edges during examination with pen-torch also fitted.

006.jpg: The private parts of an adult virgin. The hymen is circular and of considerable width, leaving a lozenge shaped opening.

007.jpg: A. Unruptured crescentic hymen in a girl aged 15 years. B. Unruptured annular hymen in a girl aged 14.5 years

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(Dr. Anil Aggrawal is a professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002. His E-mail is dr_anil@hotmail.com and his Website address is: http://members.tripod.com/~Prof_Anil_Aggrawal/index.html

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Note to the Editor: Please make all correspondence at S-299 Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi-110048. Phones (R): 6465460, 6291942, 6413101; (O) 3239271-4

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