Medical Jurisprudence And Toxicology

316 MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE

in the actual act, or when she cannot account to her mother or other near
relation for injury to her private parts or "blood or seminal stains on her
garments. At times she permits the act, and then brings a false charge of
rape with the object of blackmail. If a complaint in such a case is made a
few days after the incident, the case is probably one of concoction. It is
also necessary to note the previous character of the girl and her relations
with the accused.

4dult females, who have Been used to sexual intercourse, are known
to have brought false charges of rape against individuals by staining their
garments with a solution of starch or white of egg to simulate seminal stains
and with the blood of a fowl or a ruminant to show that the blood was due
to the injuries inflicted on their private parts during the act. In his annual
report for the year 1922, the Chemical Analyser of Bombay reports a case
in which the sari worn by a woman alleged to have been raped was found
to contain blood stains of an avian origin. The Chemical Examiner, Bengal,
also describes a case of alleged rape in his annual report for the year 1935
in which the cloth of the victim was covered with several stains of the blood
of a ruminant mixed with that of a bird (probably a fowl) .

ACCIDENTS FOLLOWING RAPE

Convulsions, epileptic fits, and mental derangements have been known
to follow rape. £teath may occur as a result of rape from shock due to
fright and mental emotion, or from syncope due to excessive bleeding from
severe injuries to the genitals and permaeum, especially among children.
Iliese injuries, if not immediately fatal, may produce sloughing, and cause
death from septic infection after several days or weeks. In some cases
death has resulted at the time of the perpetration of the offence from suffo-
cation caused by covering the mouth and nostrils with the hand or by
thrusting a piece of cloth down the throat to prevent the female from crying
for help. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the mouth for the presence
of a foreign body when the body of a female, who is alleged to have died
from rape, is brought for post-mortem examination. Sometimes, a female
is first raped, and then murdered to destroy the only reliable witness to the
offence.

I^trely, rape has been committed on a dead body (Necrophilia). In
such a case it would be difficult to obtain physical evidence, if the crime was
not detected at the time of its perpetration. In the case of a virgin's body
it might be possible to find tears in the hymen, vagina and f ourchette, and
scratches perhaps on the vulva. The presence of semen or spermatozoa
about the genitals would furnish corroborative evidence, but the possibility
of a sexual connection before death, especially in tfre case of a married
should not be lost sight of.

ACCUSED

JSelese eraminiMg the accused his written consent should be taken after
It is explained to him that the result of the medical examination may" go
35amsfe him. WMle writing the report the following should -be carefully
noted: — **""""

l._ Tlie exact time of the examination wife the date and montfr of the
year.

2^ Hie age, demdqpHeai ol %e genital oorgau^ ami pfeys|c®l powers of
Hie a^ecus&cl as c^n^atBd, f$itb mose c^ the victim (accuser). fT''v,0 *

. The presence fjjti^Ete ©n the? elollies or loss of atiy i^orti^ or buttons

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