Exhumation and identification: A case report.

The term exhumation is restricted to legally digging out the body from the grave after burial. The objectives of disinterment can vary in various cultures as well as countries and requirements vary from place to place However, most cases of exhumation occur because there is a request from a magistrate to carry out an autopsy to gain essential forensic evidence. The paper discusses such a case of 10 year old girl who was buried after committing sexual assault and strangulation. After the passage of about two years the victim’s body was retrieved from the place identified by the accused persons who confessed to the crime. The body of the victim was identified by her mother from a small piece of under slip and other articles she was wearing. The paper discusses various aspects of exhumation and also stresses the importance of careful examination and recording of personal articles, belongings etc of the victim recovered from/with the body during autopsy examination.

Exhumation: A 10-year retrospective study.

Exhumation is done for number of reason and includes establishment of identity, to know cause and manner of death, belated suspicion of an unnatural death or for medical insurance problems. It is infrequently done in India and due to cultural practice of cremation by burning to ashes the data are lacking. Compared with conventional autopsy done immediately after death, exhumation poses many problems. The present study was aimed to collect data regarding exhumation, to collect morphological findings in comparison with maximum postmortem interval and to analyze them in an attempt to formulate “catalogue of expectation” to supplement the published literature. Total 24 forensic exhumations performed at three centers of this region from 1999 to 2008 were evaluated retrospectively. Total 24 cases were analyzed and amongst them 12 were men and 12 were women and their age ranged from 3 years to 75 years (mean age 26.95). In the present series, the cause of death at exhumation could be clearly determined in 16 cases (66.6%). Amongst others, the burial practice and postmortem interval are major determining factors for possible outcome at exhumation.

The Deceased's Body Destroyed in Exhumation of Clandestine Graves: Case Reports and Literature Review / 대한법의학회지

Exhumation in clandestine graves has to be done very carefully, since it is considered as a crime scene. Most such cases are related to a suspicious death and it is very important to search for human remains carefully. Before excavation, all operational procedures have to be planned in advance. Missing evidence or human errors can be avoided if each investigative team member works together with archaeological assistance and forensic pathologists. But in practice, it may be difficult to work according to established standard operational procedures because, in many cases, the clandestinely buried victims appear in unexpected areas or it is hard to locate the exact location of the site. Therefore, we present the following cases and hope that the general principles for exhuming a clandestine grave will be established so that they can be helpful in similar investigations in the future.

Victim of adultery with bigotry.

A classical case in which the victim was killed in a bizarre manner, by his own (two) wives and their boyfriend. For the past 8 years victim had been living in the city for livelihood while he left the family in the village. In his absence both the wives who are sisters developed an illicit relationship with a man from the same village. The victim unexpectedly visited the village on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and came to know about their illicit relationship. He put-up the issue in the panchayat which enraged both the wives and their paramour hence they planned to kill him. In the name of a get-together they got the husband drunk and once unconscious, they beat him mercilessly and strangled him to death. They packed the body in a gunny bag, wrapped it in a woolen blanket and buried him in a partially dried pond in the outskirts of the village. Due to the sudden disappearance of the victim the relatives suspecting foul play, informed the police. During interrogation by the Police the wives and their paramour confessed their crime.

Medicolegal Reconstruction of the Jeju 4.3 massacre / 대한법의학회지

Sixty years after the massacre took place at Jeju, authors carried out a series of exhumations. The exhumation based on anthropological and archaeological method allowed for the interpretation of events occurring during the burial of the body and provided data for crime scene investigation, the evidence.

Medico-legal autopsy by panel of Doctors present scenario.

Medico-legal autopsy to ascertain the cause of death or other factors concerning death in unnatural or suspicious cases is in general conducted by one autopsy surgeon. But situations do arise when services of more than one doctor in the form of panel are taken for conducting autopsies. Except administrative orders for panel formation for autopsy in dowry related or custodial deaths, there are no clearly defined guidelines for constitution of the panel of autopsy surgeons in a large number of cases. Keeping in view the scientific, administrative, medical, legal and academic aspects of such autopsies, there is an urgent need to formulate certain guidelines for constituting such panels for disbursement of justice in a better way in public interest and to counter the probability of harassment and exploitation of the autopsy surgeons later on.