Scenario of hooch tragedy in Gujarat state.

Currently, the Hooch Tragedy occurred in July 2009 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, resulting in the death of 136 people from consumption of bootlegged liquor. This was the highest death toll in Gujarat from consuming moonshine since 1989 when 132 people had died in a matter of days in Vadodara. The number of patients admitted in the four hospitals of Ahmedabad-Civil Hospital, V.S. Hospital, LG Hospital and Shardaben Hospital had risen to 276 with nearly 100 needing observation either in ICUs or surgical wards. Embarrassed by the scale of the tragedy in a state where consumption and sale of liquor is officially banned, police swept through Gujarat in search of those, illegally selling home-made liquor. Gujarat is the country's only state where sale and consumption of liquor is banned in deference to Mahatma Gandhi, a Gujarati who was passionately opposed to liquor. This has led to a proliferation of illegal liquor dens, whose home-made brew is mostly consumed by those from low income families who can't afford high priced drinks available outside the state.

Original research paper trends of fatal poisoning in saurashtra region of gujarat (a prospective study).

Everyday around the world almost 700 people die from the poisoning and several thousands more are affected by poisoning. Poisoning occurs in all regions and countries and affects people in all age and income group. Major occupation in Saurashtra region of Gujarat is farming with majority of population living in rural areas where the cases of accidental and suicidal poisoning are common and incidences are increasing day by day due to the use of pesticides for a wider variety of purposes. A detailed knowledge about the nature and magnitude of the poisoning cases in this particular area is not only important for early diagnosis and prompt treatment but also it may help to form policies to curb the access of the population to certain very toxic substances. The present study was undertaken in the department of Forensic Medicine at Rajkot (Gujarat) to know the pattern of fatal poisoning. Total 208 cases of death due to fatal poisoning were selected for this prospective study, which were brought to us for postmortem examination during the span of one year (From January 2007 to December 2007). Our study revealed that most of the victims of fatal poisoning were Hindus, married males of middle socio-economic status who died due to self ingestion of some poison.

The study of un-natural female deaths in Vadodara City.

Death is a tragedy in whatever form, at whatever time and in whatever way it comes. In India, killing of the newborn female child has been practiced from time immemorial for a variety of reasons. A female may be compelled to end her life at the alter of dowry or may be killed by a midwife or a doctor who is supposed to help her come into this world. The illegal use of ultrasonography techniques had emerged as a tool for killing of female fetus even inside the uterus. That is why it is said that “womb to tomb female is in danger”. To know the magnitude and pattern of Unnatural female deaths in Vadodara City of Gujarat, we have conducted an autopsy based retrospective study on 480 cases of female deaths in the department of Forensic Medicine during the year of 2008. All the data related to age, religion, marital status and cause of death with its manner were recorded with detailed autopsy examination and subsequently analyzed. We reached at a conclusion that majority of the victims were Hindu married females of younger age group between 20-30 years who died because of an extensive accidental burns.

Histo-pathology examination in medico-legal autopsy pros & cons.

Medico legal autopsy examination is performed by the forensic expert with a view to searching primarily for the cause of death. It is performed on the instructions of legal authority in circumstances relating to suspicious, sudden, obscure, unnatural, litigious or criminal deaths and the information so derived, to be applied for legal purpose to assist the course of justice. Medico legal autopsies differ in the purpose and procedure from pathological autopsies but sometimes they overlap with each other at various levels. Histopathology examination is commonly asked by autopsy surgeon to establish the cause of death when he recognizes any morbid anatomical changes in tissues and suspect that it may be the reason for cessation of vital functions of deceased. During the period of three years from 2005-2007, a retrospective study was conducted at PDU Medical College, Rajkot to know weather routine histo-pathological examination is essential in medico legal autopsies or it is creating only an extra burden over the pathologists, autopsy surgeon and law enforcing agencies in any way.

Postmortem burns: An artefact due to transportation.

An artefact is any change caused or feature introduced in a body after death (accidentally or physiologically unrelated finding to the natural state of the body) that is likely to lead to misinterpretation of medico legally significant ante mortem findings. Artefacts due to burns are usually attributed to prolonged exposure of flame (in cases of death due to burns), Or else due to attempts made to burn a body after homicide with the object of concealing the crime. Post mortem artefact due to burns in the present case, its implication and proposed mechanism are discussed in detail due to rarity of its kind.

Profile of road traffic accidents & head injury in Jaipur (Rajasthan).

The injuries and death due to head trauma are inescapable in the modern way of life and their correct interpretation is vital to the reconstruction of the events of Forensic Medicine and their proper management for treatment of the injured. The present study was conducted in the department of forensic medicine, SMS medical college, Jaipur in year 2003-2004 to analyze the quantity of the magnitude of deaths due to Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) and to provide epidemiological data, so the preventive measures can be undertaken. Our study shows that majority of the victims of RTA were male of middle age group (20-40 years), when they were going on two wheelers with out wearing helmets.

Contradictory skull and age estimation.

The corpus delicti means the facts of any criminal offence. The main part of the corpus delicti is the establishment of identity of the dead body and infliction of violence in a particular way, at a particular time and place, by the person on persons charged with the crime and none other. The case against the accused cannot be established unless there is convincing proof of these points. If the victim’s identity is not known, it becomes difficult for the police to solve the crime. Determination of the age of the individual comes in routine forensic practice, as the age of the victim is one of the three primary characteristics of identification. But in few cases it is not easy to opine about the age of the victim especially when we are receiving only a single bone like skull with contradictory findings. The presented case report is an attempt to discuss that how we can solve such problems by considering the other criteria’s for age estimation in skull which can be of a great use when some contradictory findings are there in remains of skeleton.

The fire is both “a blessing & scourge to the mankind”.

Man has always needed fire either to prepare his food to satisfy his hunger or to induce warmth during winters. Simultaneously he is constantly exposed to the hazards of burns, which begins right from the day one of his life, when the maternity nurse gives him the first hot water bath. That is why it is said, “The fire has been both a blessing and scourge to the mankind”. The present study was conducted in department of forensic medicine PDU Medical College, Rajkot during the period from Nov. 2004 to Oct. 2005 with a view to study the profile of burn cases brought for the post mortem examination. All the data related to age, sex, marital status, type and manner of burns with area involved, and survival time were recorded with detailed autopsy examination and subsequently analyzed statistically. We reached at a conclusion that majority of the victims were married females of younger age group between 20-40 years, with an extensive accidental flame burns.

A Case of fabricated snake bite.

Fabricated wounds are the type of injuries, which are produced by a person on his own body or occasionally caused by another person acting in agreement with him. On 9th February 2007, a case-file of post mortem examination was brought to us for the expert opinion with the alleged history of snake bite from a rural hospital about 60 Km from PDU Medical College, Rajkot. On going through the police papers, we found that it was a case of fabricated snake bite in which the accused has raised a fabricated death certificate to gain the money of insurance, while the victim died due to cardiac arrest on account of myocardial infraction as per clinical record of a private hospital where he was declared dead.

Reconstruction: A recipe of forensic medicine.

Mostly in medicolegal cases for the purpose of investigation in the right direction it is important to know and see whether findings or injuries present over the body are consistent with the history or not. This becomes more important in certain cases like death in police custody and death in police encounter, where the integrity of law enforcing agencies is at stake and for that consistency of findings with the history given by them is important. This is only possible by meticulous examination of the body and then reconstruction of the findings, which leads to a particular outcome. And that is why it is said, that “Reconstruction of the crime is like a recipe of forensic medicine”.