Profile of Disease Related Deaths in Custodial Cases An Autopsy Based Experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/Keywords:
Prison, Custody, Death, Autopsy, Human rightsAbstract
The death of a person in custody always raises suspicion of torture at the hands of authorities culminating in death. In view of above, the present study was conducted to bring to light the pattern of deaths among the prison population of northwest India and suggest suitable preventive measures. This study extended over a period of four years (January 2010 to December 2013) and analysed 60 such cases. Male predominance was observed. The maximum number of fatalities (26.6%) occurred in 21-30 years age group. Most (80%) of the prisoners belonged to rural areas. Contrary to the common perception, natural causes (80%) were responsible for death in the majority of cases, with lung pathologies (29.2%) as the major killer. The study concluded that provision of timely and adequate health care to prison inmates is likely to bring down the morbidity & mortality. It is likely to bring down the morbidity and mortality among prison inmates and also save the authorities from the unnecessary mental agony and harassment of getting accused of the death of the person.
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