Citation

Kumar V, Roy P, Prasad R, Deb PK. Indian J. Forensic Med. Toxicol. 2018; 12(3): 121-123.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Deptartment of Forensic Medicine)

DOI

10.5958/0973-9130.2018.00144.5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Custodial death refers to the death of a person in the police custody, lockup or in the judicial custody. Such deaths draws undue attention of public and media as well as allegations of torture by the relatives of deceased on police personnel. It has been observed that in the past decade the toll of deaths in police lock-ups is on the rise. The aim of the study was to study of epidemiological data in cases of custodial deaths with special emphasis to find out the cause and manner of death and recommending some preventive measure to reduce incidences of such deaths. In this study, we have analyzed the 42 cases of custodial deaths that had been autopsied in the mortuary of Department of Forensic Medicine, NBMCH, Darjeeling, West Bengal in the last 5 years (January 2011 - November 2016). All data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software. Using appropriate statistical tool we have found that males (95.2%) predominated over females, custodial deaths mostly found among the middle aged (45.23%) Hindu population (85.7%). 64.3% deaths were attributed to natural causes, while 9.5% cases were due to homicide, 11.9% cases were due to suicide and in 14.3% cases opinion were kept pending till receipt of chemical examiner's and histopathological reports. © 2018, Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; Homicide; homicide; suicide; Suicide; Islam; female; male; Unnatural deaths; autopsy; cause of death; Christian; death; retrospective study; middle aged; detention; histopathology; Article; Hindu; custodial death; Custodial deaths; Natural deaths; morgue