1Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, K.B.N.I.M.S, Gulbarga, Karnataka
2Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, K.B.N.I.M.S, Gulbarga, Karnataka
3Professor & Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, K.B.N.I.M.S, Gulbarga, Karnataka
Online published on 7 August, 2013.
Homicide is the most serious crime committed against persons, and its grave implications make its detections, solutions & adjudication matters of vital importance to every citizen & to the entire community as well as to the law enforcement authorities & judiciary.
The present study is a perspective study conducted at Khaja Banda nawaz institute of medical science of, Gulbarga (North-Karnataka) during 2010–2012. Total 39 alleged homicidal deaths were studied in a systematic manner. All these cases were analyzed with an objective of knowing age & sex distribution of victims, types of fatal injuries & their probable weapons, victims’ location (urban or rural), literacy, socio-economic status and motives involved.
Among 39 cases autopsied 26 deaths (66.64%) were due to mechanical violence, the commonest type (Table No 1) of weapon used was mixed (sharp+blunt) in 11 cases(28.20%), in 9 cases(23.06%) it was by sharp cutting weapon,in 6 cases (15.38%) it was blunt weapon, in 2 cases(5.12%) it was firearm, 2 cases(5.12%) were asphyxial deaths, out of which one case (2.56%) was due to hanging & one case (2.56%) was due to strangulation. Among the remaining 9 cases 8cases (20.51%) were of burns & one case (2.56%) was of poisoning.
Males 28 (71.77%) predominated females 11 (28.20%) and majority of cases 11 (28.20%) belonged to 21–30 yrs age group. The commonest weapons used were the mixed weapons (sharp + blunt) causing 11 (28.20%) deaths.
Most of the victims belonged to the low socioeconomic status i.e. [36(92.29%)] & majority of them were from rural areas i.e. [25 (64.10%)].
Homicide, Weapons, Autopsy, Fatal Injuries
