Torture and the law: An indian perspective.

Torture of a fellow human being by another human being is essentially an instrument to impose the will of the ‘strong’ over the ‘weak’. Over the years, the incidence of torture has only increased, with the methods becoming highly complex, involving psychical and/or physical exhaustion. These include deprivation of sleep, food and drink; sometimes combined with forced physical activities or forced standing for hours or even days. Freedom of movement and perception is restricted by confining the person to a very small dark room and his self-esteem is eroded by deprivation of toilet facilities and clothing or by constant verbal abuse. Inspite of checks posed by various laws including the International Humanitarian Law, such inhuman practices continue unabated. This article describes the Indian scenario of this world-wide phenomenon, with a view to sensitize the readers about this scourge on the society.

Situs inversus vis-à-vis sudden death.

Situs Inversus, a rare congenital anatomical abnormality although is not directly related to Sudden Death. However, 3-5% of people with Situs Inversus have associated functional heart defect & 25% have an underlying condition i.e. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesis presenting as Kartagener's Syndrome; are prone to Sudden Death. Two cases of Situs Inversus on which medico-legal autopsy was conducted are reported. In first case, death was attributed to cardiac component (massive cardiomegaly, narrowing of coronaries and an old, healed apical scar) and in the second, due to respiratory complications (infection of lungs with areas of pus formation) with Blood Alcohol Concentration as 241.50 mg % ; being another significant finding. Apart from discussing the various aspects of the condition, vital medico-legal issues varying from 'Negligence' to 'Assessment for Insurance purpose' are being discussed.

A critical analysis of stab wound on the chest A case report.

Penetrating Injuries on the chest may be homicidal, suicidal or accidental in nature. There are certain features that are quite reliable pointers to the nature of these injuries. However differentiation is difficult particularly when the characteristics of stabbing are perplexed and information related to circumstances of the incident is misguiding. The present case projects the importance of careful examination of the stab wounds on the chest particularly when the information provided to the autopsy surgeon is ambiguous.

Multiple wounds by a single bullet: A case report.

A 19 year old boy with multiple entry and exit wounds was brought to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. According to the relatives he suffered a gun shot injury due to careless handling of firearm by his father. On autopsy it was found that a single bullet resulted in multiple wounds. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of careful examination of firearm wounds and to keep in mind the possibility of correlation between distantly present wounds.