Study of ligature marks in asphyxial deaths of hanging and strangulation

The ligature mark around the victim's neck constitutes an extremely precious piece of evidence to arrive at a conclusion as to the cause of death whether hanging or strangulation, though on some rare occasions, the forensic pathologist finds it immensely problematic to opine confirmatively about the cause and manner of death. 75 cases of violent asphyxial deaths, 60 cases of hanging and 15 cases of ligature strangulation, brought for medicolegal autopsy in the department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology AIIMS, New Delhi during 1999 and 2000 were studied. This paper elaborates age and sex distribution of the victims, ligature material used and various morphological findings of the ligature mark and also comparison with various studies.