Medical Jurisprudence And Toxicology

246 MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE

Wounds found on a gart of the body ordinarily covered by clothes with-
out corresponding cuts or rents en them are always suicidal, as a person
who commits suicide exposes his body by o^ming^Jhis^^clathes and then
inflicts wounds.

Self-inflicted wounds simulating homicidal wounds are usually pro-
duced to support a false charge of assault against an opponent, to augment
the seriousness of the injuries which one has already received during a
quarrel, to prove self-defence in an accusation of assault or murder, or to
substantiate a charge of violence and robbery in a case where one has
appropriated money or valuables placed in one's charge. Such wounds are
commonly on the front of the body, but may be on those parts of the back
which can be easily reached by the hand. They are several superficial cutsft
or scratches made with a knife, razor or some pointed instrument. Theyl
are often parallel with straight regular margins. I have seen several cases /
of fabricated wounds, but the following are characteristic: —

1. In the year 1916, a student of the Agra College inflicted twenty wounds on the
abdomen, twenty-eight on the right thigh and thirty on the left thigh, after he had
inflicted some nasty wounds with a razor on his room fellow. They were very charac-
teristic and suggestive of self-infliction. The wounds on the abdomen were mostly
transversely oblique, and directed from left to right. None had gone deeper than the
muscles. Those on the right thigh were all superficial and directed from below upwards,
and from within outwards, while those on the left thigh were directed from below
upwards, and from without inwards. Thus, all the wounds were caused by the right
hand. They varied in length from three to eight inches.

2 In May 1919, a Mahomedan male of Police-Station Saadatganj, District Lucknow,
received three simple bruises on the right forearm, right shoulder, and left cheek bone
during a quarrel. He went home, inflicted some injuries on his body and lodged a
complaint against his opponent at the police-station. On examination I found the fol-
lowing injuries %vhich, from their position and appearance, did not leave any doubt of
their being self-inflicted : —

(a) A superficial cut, half-an-inch by quarter of an inch, tapering into a linear
tail, three inches long, obliquely along the middle of the front of the left forearm
directed from below upwards and from without inwards.

(b) Three superficial incised wounds, varying from three-quarters to two inches
long, and from one-eighth to one-fourth inch broad, obliquely along the right side of
the chest directed from above downwards and outwards.

(e) Two vertical linear cuts, each half-an-inch long, on the left side of the chest
above the left nipple.

(d) Three horizontal superficial cuts, varying from half-an-inch to two inches
by one-eighth to one-fourth inch, and parallel to each other, below the right nipple.
They all ended in linear tails of varying lengths and were directed from left to right.

(e} Two vertical superficial incised wounds, each measuring one inch by one-
fourth inch, along the upper part of the right thigh on its inner side. One of these
was directed from below upwards and from within outwards and the other, from above
downwards and from without inwards.

3. One Ramavtar of Police-Station Mohanlalganj, complained that he was assaulted
by a man with a gandasa (chopper) on the 12th May 1927, and received a wound on
the back of the neck. On examination I found a transverse incised wound, 3" by J" (in
its widest part) by I/6", across the back of the neck in its lower part, commencing from
2f/ to the left of the spinal column and directed towards the right ending into a linear,
superficial, transverse scratch, 1J" long. I gave my opinion that it appeared more like
a self-inflicted wound than a homicidal wound, and the accused was discharged by
the Sessions Judge.

4. On the 15th November 1928, I examined Must. Rukmani who complained that
she was struck with a gandasa. She had a superficial cut with a dry scab, J" by 1/10",
across the back of the right forearm 3^" below the right elbow, ending into a linear
superficial cut^ lff kmg, and directed from within outwards. There were three more
linear superficial cuts, varying from f" to 1" long, across the back of the same forearm
below the first cut,

5. On or about the 2Stfe January 1929, one Swami Din killed a Mahomedan male
by inflicting several injuries on his body with a heavy cutting weapon, and then caused
cuts on some parts of his own body to bring forward a plea that in self-defence he
killed the Mahomedan as the latter wanted to take his life. On examination I found