Homicide in southern India—A five-year retrospective study

Sachidananda Mohanty, Sujan Kumar Mohanty, Kiran Kumar Patnaik

Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, M.K.C.G. Medical College, Berhampur, India.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Minakhi Medical College, Kanchipuram, India.

DOI: 10.4236/fmar.2013.12004                

Abstract

Homicide has become a common practice reflecting anger in southern India. The purpose of this study was to identify the potential risk factors and susceptible victims. This retrospective study analyses the data of 590 cases. Our study revealed that the victims were mostly males of 21 - 30 years, married (63.56%), illiterates (44.07%), low socioeconomic status and belong to rural areas. The laborers and farmers were almost equally affected in males and housewives in females. Outdoor incidents were more (61.86%). Majority of victims were innocent (82.20%) with no previous history of cognizable offence. Blood alcohol was found positive in 30.23% of victims. Sharp cutting weapons were mostly used, with hemorrhage and shock being the most common cause of death. Previous enmity and familial disharmony were the two common causes behind such heinous crime. Most victims had injuries over multiple body parts. Some potential risk factors and their preventive measures pointed at the end.

Keywords

Autopsy; Homicide; Familial Disharmony; Victim

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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