Original Communication
Poisoning deaths in married women

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Abstract

Unnatural deaths of married women amongst the total female deaths have been an increasing trend in Indian society during the recent past years. These unnatural deaths may be suicide, homicide or even accidents. But these suicides and homicides are currently more commonly associated with the dowry disputes. In India, dowries are a continuing series of gifts endowed before and after the marriage. When dowry expectations are not met, the young bride may be killed or compelled to commit suicide, either by burning, poisoning or by some other means. Here, in the study, the main objective is to present the different epidemiological and medicolegal aspects of poisoning deaths in the married women.

In a cohort of 200 married female deaths, 35 (18%) were poisoning deaths and these were analyzed from both epidemiological and medicolegal aspects. In this series, most of the women consumed organophosphorus compound and died within 10 days. The majority of the affected wives due to dowry problems were below 35 years of age. Most incidents occurred either during morning hour or during daytime.

Introduction

Suicide by burning has historically been linked to Indian society. Since ancient times, woman have performed the act of “sati”, that of throwing themselves onto the funeral pyre of their deceased husbands, and even betrothed women were encouraged to do so. Even today, the act of sati is occasionally encountered. However, increasingly self-immolation has come to be related not to the honorable and respectful act of sati, but rather as a result of onerous dowry demands. Similarly, poisoning is the next most frequent manner of deaths in women related to dowry disputes.

The bestowing of dowries is an ancient tradition. Unlike the Western concept of a single “bride payment”, the Indian tradition consists of an ongoing series of gifts both before and after the marriage to “appease” the husband and his family. This is partly due to the differences in family dynamics between the two cultures. In Western culture, a young married couple establishes their own home with both partners contributing to the welfare of their new “family”, while in India, the husband’s family takes in the bride, adding a financial burden to the extended family living arrangements. When the dowry demands are not met, husbands and in-laws render significant mental and physical harassment on the young brides in an effort to encourage her family to fulfill their dowry obligations. Desperately seeking an escape from the brutality of their situation, some of these oppressed young women choose suicide.

Deaths related to dowries or “dowry deaths” has been described under section 304-B of Indian Penal Code as:

  • 1.

    When the death of a woman is caused by any burns or other bodily injury, or occurs other than under normal circumstances, within seven years of her marriage, and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or by any relative of her husband’s for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such deaths will be deemed “dowry death” and her husband or relative will be deemed to have caused her death.

  • 2.

    Whoever commits dowry deaths shall be punished by imprisonment for no less than seven years, but which may extend to life imprisonment.

In dowry death cases, a magistrate inquests (i.e. inquest done by executive magistrates who are the higher officer) is undertaken unlike the usual police inquest (done by sub-inspector of police who is an official under a magistrate).

In the present series of study the basic aim is to present the different epidemiological and medicolegal aspects of married female deaths due to poisoning.

Section snippets

Material and methods

Out of 253 autopsies performed on female bodies between January 1996 to December 2000, two hundred were the married female deaths. Of these married female deaths, 35 victims died due to poisoning and form the cohort of the study. All autopsies were performed in the department of Forensic Medicine of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal (Karnataka). An in-depth examination of the epidemiological features and medicolegal aspects of these 35 women was performed in an effort to more clearly understand

Results

Twenty-six of the 35 women (74%) died within 10 days (Table 1) where the incident occurred either in the morning or during mid-day hour (Fig. 1).

More than half of the victims consumed organophosphorus compound (Table 2), which were available in the houses.

The overwhelming majority (88%) of deaths were from the Hindu community (Fig. 2) and about 43% of the women were less than 35 years of age (Fig. 3).

In majority of the deaths (77%), police inquests were done (Fig. 4) unlike dowry death victims.

Discussion

Amongst the female population, married female deaths are common in the Indian society. Indian law states that any suspicious death of a married woman within seven years of her marriage is considered to be a case of dowry death unless proved otherwise by the defendants. The present study is a retrospective one where the data have been collected from the autopsy files. Hence, it is difficult to say with absolute conviction that the deaths in the present study were actually all cases of dowry

Conclusion

The present study highlights the following features pertaining to the poisoning deaths amongst married women in relation to dowry disputes:

  • 1.

    Organophosphorus compounds are the commonest agent used for such crimes.

  • 2.

    Survival period is usually less than 10 days.

  • 3.

    Maximum numbers of incidents occur during morning or daytime.

  • 4.

    Incidents mainly occur in Hindu community usually before 35 years of age.

  • 5.

    Police inquests were more common.

To decrease such crimes the following measures are recommended:

  • 1.

    Spread of

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Work attributed to: Department of Forensic medicine, KMC, Manipal (India).

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