1Assistant Profesor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Rama Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, NH-24, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, India
2Assistant Profesor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, ESI Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Hariyana, India
3Assistant Profesor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India
4Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), New Delhi, India.
*Corresponding Author: Dr Mahesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Rama Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, NH-24, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, India, Pin- 245304. E-mail: mahesh25881@gmail.com, Ph: 09313517292, 07249925266
Passage of electric current through hand causes discomfort and pain due to direct activation of the sensory fibres, and the person pulls away the hand from the object. It may also cause involuntary contraction of the forearm muscles, causing grasping of the object. If a person dies due to electrocution at this stage, the contracted muscles can go into cadaveric spasm after death, with grasping electrocuting objects in hand. This theoretical possibility is realized here in the reported case where a young lady got electrocuted by a faulty electric heating rod. The rod was connected to 220 volt power source to heat up water in a bucket. She tried to remove it from the water without switching off the power when she got electrocuted. When the body was removed and undergone autopsy, the rod was found tightly grasped in the left hand with electrocution burn mark in the left palm.
Forensic science, blister formation, electrocution mark, faulty equipment, hold-on effect, let-go effect
