An Unusal and Rare Case of Burn: Challenge to Cause and Manner of Death

Many a times scene of incidence, the inquest report, history narrated by relatives and postmortem findings may not go hand-in-hand. Suicides by burning especially by females are very common in our country(1), but charred (burn) body without conflagration in which manner is suicidal is rarely occurred and reported. "Char means to burn to charcoal". Investigation in such a case by police officer is again a matter of his knowledge and experience. So we are reporting such case; A well built, 26 years old married but separated, mentally stressed female living with her mother and brother since 7 years, was found in bathroom in a charred condition on 03/01/2012 at 06:30 hrs. As per inquest, manner of death is suicidal. The autopsy findings did not reveal exact cause of death but raised the suspicion of homicide. So the present case report will make everyone to think over not only importance of cause and manner of death in case of charred body but also to reinforce the investigating authority for thorough investigation in favor of justice to the victim.