Relation between post partum-psychosis and infanticide: Medicolegal and psychological parameters

The observation that a number of females, who commit the crime of infanticide also suffer from severe pre- and post-partum psychiatric disorders led the authors to conduct the present study jointly. 28 females who were booked for infanticide were extensively interviewed while in custody, and also when some of them were brought for psychiatric treatment. The factors which led them to commit the crime were analysed and it was found that majority of the patients committed the crime in an unstable state of mind, and also when forced to give birth to an illegitimate child, after sexual assault.