Head injury coupled with electrocution

Abstract

Killing of a human being is one of the most serious or major crimes. Assailants are very keen to conceal crime by different methods, so there may be wrong interpretation by inexperienced autopsy surgeons and hence it may lead to injustice. So it is important that our keen observation and opinion should be conclusive for the administration of justice. In this paper we are presenting a rare case of head injury coupled with electrocution. Deaths due to electrocution are infrequent; virtually all such deaths are mostly accidental in nature with suicides much rarer & homicides least common. In India, the electricity supplied in domestic houses is usually 220-240 volts alternating current with 50 cycles per second. Homicidal electrocution is caused by placing live wire at some place which the victim is expected to touch. In this case after meticulous autopsy, the case turned to be of homicidal manner. The cause of death was head injury coupled with electrocution which were ante-mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature. The present paper highlights the importance of meticulous autopsy for determination of cause and manner of death.