A CASE OF SODOMY

The victim happened to be a native of ORISSA, Working in a plywood company in Perumbavoor.He was arrested for a theft case in Perumbavoor & detained at Central prison,VIYYOR,TRICHUR.
On the early morning of 02/12'05 (0200hrs)I received a phone call from a police constable from Viyyor prison stating that a victim of sodomy was brought to the department of Forensic Medicine . To my surprise the duty surgeon in the town hospital casualty had examined the case completely in & informed the constable he should be taken to Forensic medicine department for further examination. I informed the constable the working time of the department from 0090hrs-1600hrs & requested him to bring the case at 0900hrs. The constable came by 1100hrs. The request for examination was issued by superintendent of Prison. There was a dispute whether we can examine the case,since no request was issued by the concerned police station. Any way on humanitarian grounds after entering the case in the medico-legal register I started examining the case. I could not proceed further because of excruciating pain complained by the victim. Professor of surgery was contacted I made request to examine the person under anaesthesia& take an anal swab & smear That day evening he was examined as directed & the surgeon could make out multiple superficial laceration of anal mucosa. The condition of the anal mucosa good.
The anal swab & smear turned out to be +ve for semen & spermatozoa.
No further development till this time

A CASE OF NEGLIGENCE

A seven year old girl from TRICHUR was admitted for squint correction in a famous teaching hospital in Cochin.

After pre anaesthetic medication she was taken to theatre for conducting the surgery. During induction of anaesthesia cardiac arrest occur ed. She was revived & again on induction she died on the table. Death was declared only by 1800hrs in the evening. Till that time she was put on ventilator& nothing was reveled to the relatives till evening. The body was brought for autopsy at Trichur Medical college,the next day. During autopsy I was not able to make out any surgical incision in the affected eye. As per IP case records surgery was completed?WHAT A CONTRADICTION!!. Even though by autopsy I was not able to make out anything except petechiae of internal organs with congestion; by histopathologiacl examination of internal organs reveled the existence of allergic reaction. Opinion as to cause of death was given as due to inhalation of anaesthetic gas after getting histopathological opinion from Pathologist. Later on from the investigating officer it was known that there was only one anaesthesiologist looking after 09 or 10 operation table. In that case thereis no wonder for this incident to occur. The concerned lady ophthalmicsurgeon from north India returned back to her native place.

In order to bring out the role of negligence of the doctor concerned as routine procedure;a meeting was convened by Eranakulam DMO, the medical boardconsisting of DMO,Superintendent of Police,Ernakulam,Public Prosecutor Ernakulam & Police surgeon from Alleppey Medical college. The opinion given by the police surgeon was " NO EVIDENCE OF ANAPHYLATIC REACTION". Later on I happened to meet the concerned & asked why such an opinion was given."The answer was I did not read the post-mortem certificate issued by You". This shows the motive of the concerned to safe guard the interest of the particular teaching Institution.The surgeons are having a feeling that in the event of death of a person in the operation table;if the matter is not disclosed to the relatives by them at that moment ,it will not be known to the concerned. They are forgetting about other theater staff working along with them. Another disgusting fact is that hooking up of case records in the event of death of the person. They are forgetting the doctrine"RES IPSA LOQUITOR"

Photographs of "MISINTERPERTED FINDINGS"

MISINTERPERTED FINDING

This particular case dates back to 2000 when I was working as Associate professor of Forensic medicine,Government Medical college,TRICHUR. A dead body involved in DELHI crime recovered from a park in an half naked condition over the picket fences where one of the spike had penetrated into the chest cavity.The deceased was a native of TRICHUR,KERALA. The body was subjected to medico-legal autopsy at Delhi& the relatives were not satisfied with the cause of death given. I conducted the re-autopsy. I was able to make out 07 ante mortem injuries on the body;out of which injury number 01 included 26circular lacerated injuries spread over forehead & face which could only be produced by shot gun fired at a distance. There was also another circular punched out lacerated wound over the front of left side of chest.The wound was communicating with the chest cavity without injuring any organs.Five postmortem injuries were also made out.( previous postmortem incisions & injuries produced during embalming.)I was able to recover a pellet piece from one of the wounds on the face. Out of the few pellet wounds over the face only two penetrated into the skull cavity. X- ray examination prior to autopsy did not bring anything in favor.As a routine procedure the fragment of pellet recovered,the vault of skull,X-rays taken & were handed over to the authorities under protest The father of the deceased approached the Supreme court demanding CBI inquiry & as demanded it was ordered. The CBI team appointed a medical board & the conclusion of the medical board is funny. It goes like this.1) The deceased was a mentally ill person,2) He was haunted by spirits,3) The multiple injuries described over the face as shotgun wound of entry are nothing but HESITATION WOUNDS.( Hesitation wound means a person who is going to commit suicide by inflicting injuries over ones own body will produce multiple parallel tentative superficial cuts to begin with & when he regains courage sufficiently he will make the fatal wound. These hesitation cuts as it is called are seen over the front of neck,front of wrists etc)This is very unusual for a person to produce multiple injuries spread over face by striking his head over the picket fences.I may say that there is degradation of academic thinking by our own experts.
The doctor who conducted the first autopsy gave his opinion as " CRANIO-CEREBRAL TRAUMA" I gave my opinion as " THE DECEASED DIED OF SHOT GUN INJURY" sustained. THE MEDICAL BOARD gave its verdict as " SUICIDAL & HE WAS MENTALLY ILL & HAUNTED BY SPIRITS". who was right????

This incident happened in the year 2001. A man of age 30-35 was shot by the gun man of superintendant of police on one evening. The former was running a video cassette shop in Trichur district & both of them knew each other well. The deceased sustained a wound of entry over the right side of chin & it made an exit over the back of neck. He was hospitalised & the surgeon misinterpreted the entry to exit & vice versa. He failed to notice the abrasion collar in the wound of entry. The direction of the wound was backwards & downwards through the white matter of brain. The occipital bone was fractured & fragmented. No powder tattooing was there, The history put forward by the police is that the deceased was trying to examine the revolver brought by the accused & while the deceased was examining the gun the accused snatched it from him & this resulted in the firing. Taking into consideration of the absence of tattooing I strongly suspects whether this theory holds good. Since this was a treated case, I was not able to make out any smudging. No flame effect was there. The police were not able to recover the exit bullet; the motive behind the firing is still unknown, the trail of the case is not started yet.

RE ENTRY

After a span of three months, Iam thinking of posting rest of my cases shortly.

dr.n.rajaram

court jokes

1) This one happened at the principal sessions court, Trichur, when Sri. Gopakumaran Nair was theHon: Judge. In one murder trial the defence lawyer was very much keen & adamant to see that I should give an answer to the question put forward by him as follows:- how much time it will take for the blood smear on the weapon to get completely dried up ? The Hon: judge prevented him from asking this question to an expert witness & more over the doctor is not the person to answer the question ;because it is depended on so many factors. But the defence won't give up. Finally the Hon: judge came with a solution. I will ask a question to you, If you can answer, the doctor will answer. The question goes like this." You are on a holiday all alone in your home. You are having a good quantity of clothes to wash. After the washing, you have put some clothes in the sun &some in the shade. When these two group will get completely dried up? The defence counsel had a very pathetic look & replied he can't".



2) In another case myself presented before the Principal sessions court, Kassargode. Hon: Judge Sir. James was the presiding officer. During trial the prosecution showed me a dried small branch of a tree to know whether this could produce injuries on the extremities (# of forearm & leg bones). I told him it can produce these injuries in its" original state". The judge was frowning his forehead for few seconds & suddenly began to laugh with stamping his feet on the ground& clapping his hands. He was asking the Public prosecutor whether you followed the answer. He made a comment" YOU ARE THE REAL POLICE SURGEON". What I meant was at this stage the twig is a dried peace of wood & it will only break if used with force. In its original state means when it is fresh.
After hearing the comment I was in an elated mood & answering questions put forward by both advocates. When everything was over the Hon judge was making a comment again. You have given answers to the questions put forward by both prosecutor & defence & after hearing your answers I am having certain doubts to clarify. You can get down from the defence box only after clearing all my doubts. By hearing this I felt a little bit perplexed & confused. On total I have spent more than four hrs in the witness box.
3) In another sessions case at Trichur The defence lawyer did not get any answers as anticipated to those questions put forward in his favor. At last he made a comment " your opinion as to cause of death is not correct" I replied back " in that case I would request the learned defence counsel to give a correct answer so that I will be benefited in future".

Dr.N.Rajaram