PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S M Das Gupta

Publications and source records attributed to S M Das Gupta.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

A study of fatal strangulation cases in Varanasi (India).

Strangulation is one of the oldest and widely used methods of committing murder in the Indian subcontinent. It is usually carried out by constricting the neck either with the hands, elbow, or other parts of body or by ligature, stick, and the like. In this paper we report a study of 26 cases of fatal strangulation occurring in the district of Varanasi (India) during 1982-1983 and analyze their epidemiological, medicolegal, and forensic pathological aspects. The paper also projects the mentality of perpetrators who, after strangling their victims, tried to hide the crime by disposing of the dead bodies by burning, burying, hanging, throwing them into water, or concealing them in distant places in most of the cases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Unnatural death investigation in India. A plea for the introduction of a medical examiner system of inquest.

The inquest upon a dead body is the basis of the scientific crime investigation and administration of criminal justice. The pivotal issue in any inquest is the initial visualization of the body and its surroundings at the scene of incident by a team of investigators and experts. This must be carried out meticulously, since the subsequent course of the case, and its success or failure in the court of justice, essentially depends upon its proper execution. Unfortunately, such an important step as the inquest is generally the most neglected part of any crime investigation process as it exists in India today. It is quite often left entirely to the inspired guesswork and seasoned experience of the lowest ranking police officers and more often than not to a Head Constable of a police station or substation. Nevertheless, while the coroner's system has proved to be utterly unsuitable for Indian conditions, we have failed to find an alternative solution to the growing challenge of scientific crime investigation in India, by involving the forensic pathologist in inquests held upon dead bodies, by including him in the first crime investigation. A strong case is made for adoption of the medical examiner's system of inquest, wherein the forensic pathologist plays the pivotal role and leads the "unnatural death investigation team."

Coroners and Medical Examiners↗
PubMed1984

Medicolegal autopsies in India. Delay and nonperformance--adverse effects.

Some time lag, however small between time of death or the discovery of the body (and pending medicolegal autopsy), would appear to be indispensible and justified in each case for reasons of investigation. This time interval is reduced to a required minimum, depending upon the competency of crime investigative machinery and the concern of well-intentioned individuals. In a developing country like India, this can cause serious problems. The time lag interval between the discovery of the body and the autopsy is often very long in India, and may be attributed to reasons which are outside the legitimate needs of investigation, ranging from outright incompetence to cool callousness, willful omissions, or machinations based on unfair motivations and political compulsion. Long distances, proper communication, and availability of transportation all play their parts in the need for proper indentification and autopsy examination. In addition to delays in performing the autopsies, there are numerous instances of unnatural, sudden, and suspicious deaths, where postmortem examination is never done. These reasons range from those that are seemingly innocent to those which are grossly unfair or dishonest. The medicolegal postmortem index can vary between 20 and 80% in different areas of India.

Autopsy↗
PubMed1984

Burnt wife syndrome.

While the system of offering dowry to the groom by the parents of the bride at the time of the marriage is an age old one amongst the Hindus of India; during the recent past this evil custom has resulted in a large number of newly wed young housewives being either killed or tortured to end their own lives by their husbands and in-laws, for the unfulfilled demands or desire for dowry from the parents or guardians of the bride. Indeed in India today, torture of the young housewives by their husbands and in-laws for failure to bring insufficient dowry has become the order of the day all over the country. Some of them are burnt to death and others choose to die by fire; while still others are put to death by some means other than fire and disposed of by burning in order to hide the heinous offence. Hardly a day passes in the life of a forensic pathologist working in one of the states of Northern India, when he is not called upon to do an autopsy on the dead body of a burnt housewife who almost invariably is a married Hindu woman in the prime of her youth, between 15-30 years of age.

Adolescent↗