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Forensic Medicine

Yesterday, Today

&

Tomorrow

Prof. (Dr.) S. K. Roy Chaudhary, HOD Forensic Medicine, RMCH, BAREILLY (UP)

Retd. Principal & Dean, S.K. Medical College,

Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

ORATION DELIVERED IN Feb. 2010

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European/ Western Medicine

The British East India Company established the Indian Medical Service (IMS) as early as 1764 to look after Europeans in British India.
IMS officers headed military and civilian hospitals in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras,
They also accompanied the Company's ships and army.
A utilitarian approach and the need to provide expert apothecaries, compounders, and dressers in different hospitals prompted the earliest official involvement with medical education in India.

The British East India Company established the Indian Medical Service (IMS) as early as 1764 to look after Europeans in British India. IMS officers headed military and civilian hospitals in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, and also accompanied the Company's ships and army. A utilitarian approach and the need to provide expert apothecaries, compounders, and dressers in different hospitals prompted the earliest official involvement with medical education in India. These subordinate assistants would help European doctors and surgeons who looked after the health of European civilians and military employees and also reduce the company's financial burdens by limiting the appointment of European doctors.

On 9 May 1822 the government laid down a plan for the instruction of up to twenty young Indians to fill the position of native doctors in the civil and military establishments of the Presidency of Bengal. The outcome was the establishment of "The Native Medical Institution"(NMI) in Calcutta (21 June 1822), where medical teaching was imparted in the vernacular. In general, the medical education provided by the colonial state at this stage involved parallel instructions in western and indigenous medical systems. Translation of western medical texts was encouraged and though dissection was not performed. Towards the end of 1833 a Committee was appointed by the government of William Bentinck in Bengal to report on the state of medical education and also to suggest whether teaching of indigenous system should be discontinued. The Committee consisted of Dr John Grant as President and J C C Sutherland, C E Trevelyan, Thomas Spens, Ram Comul Sen and M J Bramley as members. The Committee criticised the medical education imparted at the NMI for the inappropriate nature of its training and the examination system as well as for the absence of courses on practical anatomy. The Committee submitted a report on October 20, 1834, where the Anglicists' point of view finally prevailed over the Orientalists. The Committee recommended that the state found a medical college 'for the education of the natives'. The various branches of medical science cultivated in Europe should be taught in this college. The NMI was abolished and the medical classes at the Sanskrit College and at the Madrasa were discontinued by the government order of 28 January 1835.

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NMI

To reduce the financial burden by limiting the appointment of European doctors and to provide cheap subordinate assistants, the Native Medical Institution (NMI) was opened in Calcutta on 21 June 1822
This was modified as per Macaulay’s Report
Similar schools were started all over the country.

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Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), member of the governing council of the East India Company from 1834 to 1838, He formulated his policy on Indian Education in 1835, which became the cornerstone of British-Indian educational policy until Independence. He also drafted Indian Penal Code

In Hindu nationalist circles, the name Macaulay is synonymous with cultural estrangement of Hindus from Hindu civilization, starting with their linguistic assimilation into the global Anglophone community. "Macaulayites", anglicized Hindus, are named together with Muslims, Missionaries and Marxists as the irreconcilable enemies of Hindu Dharma, the "4M". The rot allegedly started with Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), member of the governing council of the East India Company from 1834 to 1838, who successfully advocated the replacement of the native languages with English as the medium of education. He formulated his policy proposal in his Minute on Indian Education, delivered in Kolkata on 2 February 1835. The Governor-General of India, William Bentinck, approved the proposal on 7 March 1835, so that it became the cornerstone of British-Indian educational policy until Independence (and remained largely in force after that as well). To impress upon us the magnitude of the disaster Macaulay allegedly wrought, his critics like to quote this appreciation by his biographer G.D. Trevelyan: "A new India was born in 1835. The very foundations of her ancient civilization began to rock and sway. Pillar after pillar in the edifice came crashing down."

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Kolkata Medical College

Medical College Bengal in Calcutta-1835
In1836 dissection of human corpse was performed in the college.
Recognised by Royal College of London in 1846
Umacharan Set, Rajkrishna De, Dwarakanath Gupta Nabin Chandra Mitra and Madhusudan Gupta became the first batch of Indian to do so.
Dwaraka Nath Bose, Bhola Nath Bose, and Gopal Chunder Seal passed the examination for MRCS (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) in 1846 and returned to India to join the uncovenanted Medical Service
Kadambini Ganguly, Bidhu Mukhi Bose and Virginia Mary Mitter became the first Indian women to graduate during 1888-89

The year 1836 was a landmark in the history of the growth of western medicine in British India since it witnessed the first dissection of a human corpse by Indian students. Madhusudan Gupta is often given the credit of being the first person in modern India to have dissected a human body. But many accounts state that Umacharan Set, Rajkrishna De, Dwarakanath Gupta and Nabin Chandra Mitra comprised the first batch of students to take part in dissection. They passed the first examination held on 30 October 1838 and were declared fit to practise medicine and surgery. They consequently represented the first group of Indians qualified in western medicine and given government appointments as Sub-Assistant Surgeons to the hospitals at Dhaka, Murshidabad, Patna and Chittagong. Many luminaries of Calcutta including Dwarkanath Tagore and Ram Comul Sen enthusiastically supported medical education at the CMC by instituting scholarships and prizes for brilliant students. Four students of the College were sent to England through the financial help of Dwarakanath Tagore, Professor Goodeve and partly of the government. Three of them, including Dwaraka Nath Bose, Bhola Nath Bose, and Gopal Chunder Seal passed the examination for MRCS (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) in 1846 and returned to India to join the uncovenanted Medical Service. Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty remained there, obtained the MD degree of the University College of London and became the first Indian to pass the examination for the Indian Medical Service and join the covenanted Medical Service. He also became a distinguished professor of the Medical College holding the Chair of Materia Medica from 1864 till his death in 1874. In 1842, a Council of Education, which introduced many changes in the curriculum and system of examinations, replaced the Committee of Public Instruction. The new courses of study, based on the advice of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, were introduced in 1844, and were ultimately recognised by them, by the London University and the Society of Apothecaries in 1846 (then GMC did not exist. GMC was created in 1858). After the foundation of the university of Calcutta in 1857 and its faculty of medicine for the award of medical degrees, the courses of study were revised to a certain extent. The University conferred three medical degrees, Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (LMS), Bachelor in Medicine (MB), and Doctor of Medicine (MD).

A resolution of 29 June 1883 allowed the admission of women into the CMC after doing FA. Kadambini Ganguly, a Bengali Brahmo became the first woman admitted to the CMC. In 1884 the government offered scholarships of Rs 20 per month to all female students. Bidhu Mukhi Bose and Virginia Mary Mitter received these scholarships and became the first Indian women to graduate during 1888-89. During the 1930s, the system of reservation of seats was introduced, based on the relative population of different classes of people. Further it was decided that of the 100 students taken, 5 were to be female candidates. Most of the female students belonged to the Anglo-Indian, Christian, Brahmo or Parsi communities. In 1940 the duration of study was reduced from 6 to 5 years, to be followed by a six-month period of Pre-Registration Clinical Assistantship. Stanley Medical College (SMC) is a government medical college with hospitals, located in Chennai (Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu, In 1836, Madras University established M.B. & G.M. and L.M & S Medical Courses in the Native Infirmary. In 1933, Five Year D.M. & S (Diploma in Medicine & Surgery) course was inaugurated by Sir George Fredrick Stanley who was Governor of Madras from 1929–1934. The school was named for him by the Governor of Madras Presidency on July 2, 1938.

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Image from: Medical Reporter, Calcutta,(1895).

Sir William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, M.D. (1808-1889): Born in Limerick in October 1808, O'Shaughnessy graduated from the University of Edinburgh, Medical School in 1829. He studied forensic toxicology and chemistry in England before joining the East India Co. in 1833 and moving to Calcutta. He was surgeon, physician, & professor of chemistry and scientist in Calcutta Medical College.

In 1841 he returned to England where he introduced cannabis sativa to Western medicine and continued his scientific writings. In 1844 he returned to India where he worked in various government positions in the fields of pharmocology and assay. During this period he began work on various telegraph instruments and systems. After briefly returning to England in 1852, he was appointed Superintedndent of Telegraphs in 1853. During the years 1853-5 he installed 3500 miles of telegraph across India and wrote numerous manuals and reports on his telegraph inventions. In 1856, O'Shaughnessy returned to England where he was knighted by Queen Victoria for his work on the telegraph in India, he was also appointed Director-General of Telegraphs at this time. Nitric Acid Detection.

Lancet II, pp. 633-8 (1829-30) Potassium Iodide Detection.

Lancet I, pp. 33-5 (1830-1) Thiocyanates, Opium Analysis.

Lancet II, pp 193-8 (1830-1) Poisons in Candy Coatings.

Lancet I, pp. 806-9 (1830-1) Copper in Food Poisonings.

Lancet 1, pp. 366-71 (1831-2) Oxygenized Salts in Cholera.

Lancet 1, p. 490 (1831-2) letter re. Experiments: Blood in Cholera.

Memoranda on Indian Materia Medica, Oct. 6 1838

On the Preparations of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah,

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First Professor of Forensic Medicine

First chair in Medical Jurisprudence in 1845 in Calcutta medical College and Dr. CTO Woodford was the first Professor
The first chair of professor in Medical Jurisprudence in India was established at Madras Medical College and Dr. Urquhart, a private practitioner and coroner of the city, was appointed as first professor in 1857 A.D.

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Old Building Calcutta Medical College

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First Indian in IMS

Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty obtained the MD degree of the University College of London in-1848
He became the first Indian to pass the examination for the Indian Medical Service and joined the covenanted Medical Service.
He also became a distinguished professor of the Medical College holding the Chair of Materia Medica from 1864
He was the first Indian principal of the college till his death in 1874 while he was hardly 48 yrs old.
He regularly performed postmortem examination on cases dying under his care and has given postmortem findings in detail for each case
Maintained record of all cases treated by him annually, which ran in to several thousands.

Soorjo Coomar Chuckerbutty, son of Radhamadhab Chuckerbutty, a pleader at Dacca, was born in 1826? / 1824 at Kanaksar, a village in Dacca district. He lost his parents at the age of six years and was then obliged to make his own way in the world

In 1843, he tried unsuccessfully to get admitted into the Medical College of Bengal with the help of a Bengal civilian Mr. Alexander, who offered to bear his expenses as a student of the College. Next year, however, he succeeded, probably on the recommendation of Professor Henry Goodeve

of the College. He proved to be a hard-working and bright student of the Medical

College. In 1845 he was selected to go to England for further studiesDr. M. J. Bramley, the first Principal of the Medical College of Bengal (established

in 1835) * It is on record that he concluded a bargain with the school master to perform the duties of

cook in exchange for lessons in English. The project ultimately materialized when Shri Dwaraka Nath Tagore

offered to bear all expenses for the education of two students and adequate public

donations were raised for the cost of educating the fourth student. Dr. Goodeve was

granted the necessary facilities and he, along with the four students, Bhola Nath

Bose, Dwarka Nath Bose, Gopal Chunder Seal and Soorjo Coomar Chuckerbutty,

who had been selected, left for England on 18 March 1845 on the barque Bentinck.

Shri Dwaraka Nath Tagore also went to England by the same boat.

The major causes

of death were cholera, dysentery, smallpox, phthisis, remittent fever and intermittent

fever. The death rates were as follows: cholera 46.6, dysentery 30.26, smallpox 39.21,

phthisis 45.3 per cent. He found that in some diseases the ratio of mortality to

admissions was higher in the latter four-year period. He felt that there was a 'change

of type in the constitution of diseases in India'-an idea he sought to prove by other

data as well. This view had been put forward by some workers in Europe and it

had many supporters and opponents. His colleague Dr. Ewart was one who did not

believe in this theory. Post-mortem examination was done in sixty-three fatal cases under his care;

fifty-two of these were primary and in the rest cholera developed in the course of

other diseases (intercurrent). Of the primary cases twenty-six and twenty-three died

during the second and the third stages of choleraBut

the science of bacteriology was yet to come, chemical pathology only infrequently

employed, and except for Balantidium coli (Malmsten, 1857), the protozoan parasites

affecting man and causing many major diseases in India, e.g. malaria, kala-azar and

amoebic dysentery, were yet undiscovered.

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This is a picture of the Grant Medical college that appeared in the Illustrated London News on the 8th of October 1859 on page 342. It is mentioned to be a print made from a photograph by H.Hinton.

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In 1858 Herschel an ICS officer working in Bengal discovered the identifying character of fingerprint.

He used fingerprints in contract papers

With Indigo plantation workers

And Registration of documents

He furnished record of his fingerprints to Sir Francis Galton

William James Herschel (1833-1917) (Grandson of Sir William Herschel discover of planet Uranus.)

William James Herschel (1833-1917) Grandson of Sir William Herschel discover of planet Uranus. 1858 Rajyadhar Konai-Teepsahi (tip-soi)- Sattee hand-print Indigo plantation Registration of documents- But without legal sanctity

The story of fingerprinting in the British Empire begins with the colonial civil servant William James Herschel (1833-1917), the scion of a distinguished scientific family. His grandfather, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822), discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 and his father, Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792-187 I), was a well-known astronomer and mathematician. Herschel's father, who referred to him as 'my unruly boy Bill‘, had requested him not to adopt astronomy as a career and the young man had decided, therefore, to go east. After a stint at

Haileybury, the training college of the East India Company, Herschel left for Bengal when he was just twenty. He was first posted as Assistant Collector and Magistrate at Maldah,. When Herschel left India, his work on fingerprinting was known only very superficially; even some of his greatest admirers did not necessarily know of it. 'On the 'eve of his departure to England, several members of the Indian gentry held a meeting at Hooghly express their appreciation of his labours. His humanity, his administrative efficiency, his impartial sense of justice, his concern for the poor, his eagerness to allow local people to decide on local issues without interference from him, his display of total integrity during the indigo disturbances, were all mentioned with a warmth and sincerity that went beyond servile affectation. One letter sent to the meeting summed it all up by referring to Herschel simply as 'Sir William the Good'. Of what turned out to be his biggest claim to fame, however, there was not the slightest mention. The impact of Herschel's innovation in India was, frankly, minimal. What administrative presence it did have in places like

Hooghly dissipated soon after his departure. When, at the request of Francis Galton, he wrote to Bengal in the 1890S,requesting specimens of the fingerprints recorded in the Hooghly registration documents, these were found and sent to him but with the remark that the same is now discontinued.

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Herschel’s original contract with Rajyadhar Konai- 1858

Herschel’s original contract with Rajyadhar Konai- 1858 The dispute between Faulds and Herschel over the title of pioneer has occupied far too much space in the history of fingerprinting. The issue, however, is really quite simple to resolve. Faulds had a clearer insight into the criminological importance of fingerprints than Herschel and had strong ideas on the persistence of the ridge patterns. But brilliant intuitions,

however worthy of applause, are not enough to guarantee lasting recognition. Faulds just could not proffer the voluminous evidence needed to establish his contentions. His work was conceived and conducted in a strictly scientific way - but it was paradoxically weak in the vital raw material of science: evidence. Herschel, on the other hand, had never approached fingerprinting in a scientific spirit. A colonial civil servant driven by suspicions of Indians - and let us not overlook in our postcolonial cynicism his genuine desire to be impartial and decide things correctly

And deliver justice - Herschel introduced fingerprints simply as an administrative innovation. Even the use of fingerprints to determine racial or hereditary questions - a chimera chased for years by scientists such as Galton and of importance to Faulds - did not really interest him. He once mentioned that the differences between the ridge pattrerns of Hindoos and Europeans were clear but not invariable enough to be used for identification. That was all. The biological significance of the ridge patterns, if any, was not his concern, only their identifying characteristics.

Faulds, for instance, had suspected that the ridge patterns persisted unchanged through life. While in Tokyo, he had even tried the experiment of shaving off the ridges with a razor and waiting to see if they grew back in their original form. When they did so, he felt confident that the patterns were 'forever unchangeable‘. As Herschel was quick to point out later, the number of experiments conducted by Faulds and their duration

simply did not permit him to draw such a definite conclusion.

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Bertillonage in Bengal

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Bertillon’s mugshot of Francis Galton, 1893

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Edward Henry (1850-1931)

Edward Henry (1850-1931)

1891- 1892 Bastard Bertillonage- LTI Added
1897 – Fingerprints Classified

Examination of Henry System by Experts

Surveyor General of India- Major General Charles strahan
Scientist Educator – Alexander Pedler, FRS

New system of Classification

Edward Henry (1850-1931) Lawyer who became ICS in 1873 rose to become Member board of revenue in Calcutta. Then switched over as Inspector General of Police in Bengal in 1891. In one decade he spent on this post he created history. He started using Bertillon’s method of identification in police which was called bastard bertillonage by Major Ferris of Indian Army as it used only 6 of bertillon’s 11 measurement and also took left thumb impression from reading Galton’s 1892 book on fingerprint

As with Herschel's initial experiments, it is, once again, the story of an Englishman faced with the daunting task of managing the Empire: Edward Henry (1850-1931), who began his career as a junior clerk at Lloyd's in London and ended it in 1918 as Sir Edward Henry, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Bored to tears by the life of a clerk, he took evening classes at University College London, where he developed an interest

in law. In 1871, he entered the Society of the Middle Temple for formal legal training. Passing the competitive examination for entering the Indian Civil Service in 1873, he was posted as collector and assistant magistrate in Herschel's Bengal and had, by 1890, risen to the secretaryship of the Board of Revenue. None of these initial posts satisfied his legal interests – although they did give him ample time to play polo, participate in

amateur dramatics and hunt jackals (Bengal, alas, had no foxes) - and he was to come into his own only when appointed Inspector General of the Bengal Police in 1891. In the decade that he spent in this post, Henry made history. First, he made anthropometry a routine part of Indian police

practice. Anthropometric measurements, of course, had been in use in India for some time - it was the favoured method of anthropologists to determine racial and caste types.

Examination of Henry System by Experts appointed by Govt. Of India -Surveyor General of India- Major General Charles strahan Scientist Educator – Alexander Pedler, FRS. They had pointed out weaknesses of Bertillon system noting the simplicity of recording fingerprints and the proof of identity they provided. Now they were stunned by the new system of classification which led to the duplicate of the finger print among the large collection stored in record

Often repeated story claims that idea of classification systems for ten digit prints had come to Henry in a flash while staring out of window of an express train while he was going to Calcutta not having any paper on him he immediately jotted down his idea on his starched cuff. Another version attributed to Henry himself by Sir Basil Thompson in his History of Scotland Yard claims that the epiphanic moment came while he was riding through the Indian jungle.

Haque in particular is supposed to have played an important role in helping Henry evolve the system of 1024 pigeon holes and the mathematical formula that determined which pigeon hole a specific card was located in ( a murkier story has it that Haque in turn was assisted in constructing the formula by an anonymous professor of mathematics at Calcutta’s leading college. The most damning anecdote of all is that when Haque drafted a classification scheme and gave it to Henry, the Inspector General studied it for a week but failed to understand it

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1024 pigeon holes created by Khan Bahadur Azizul Haque

and

Rai Bahadur Hem Chandra Bose

1024 pigeon holes created by Khan Bahadur Azizul Haque and Rai Bahadur Hem Chandra Bose.

Sir Douglas Gordon a former Inspector General of Bengal Police wrote to the Times in 1965 that Henry had placed on special duty two Indian Inspectors to work out a formula or a set of formulae which would enable fingerprints to be classified. This in due course they succeeded in doing and the result of their labours and ingenuity is the basis of the “Henry” system which he brought with him to London when he was appointed Assistant Commissioner at ‘Scotland Yard’ Gordon had known both Haque and Bose during his days in Bengal Police and strongly implied that they and not Henry created the classification. The full credit for the system he declared ‘ rests with the Bengal Police’ This was supported by a subsequent letter to The Times from H. C. Mitchell, the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Police (UK) Association. Mitchell asserted that it had been Haque who, in 1897, had explained the classification to the government committee investigating the utility of fingerprinting. 'Retired officers of the Indian Police', he stressed, 'are anxious that the work of Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose should be commemorated and that their names should be on record in India and in this country‘. Mitchell also reported that Henry, when dining with Bengal Police officers during a visit to India in 1912 (Henry accompanied King George V and Queen Mary to the Coronation Durbar in Delhi as special equerry and security adviser), spoke in glowing terms of Haque and Bose. (As usual, there is a variant of the story, in which the climax comes with the 'presentation by Sir Edward to the assembled company of his former Sub Inspector of Police Khan Bahadur Azizul Haque the man mainly responsible for the new world-wide fingerprint system of identification'.) Haque received the title of Khan Sahib from the government in 1913 and that of Khan Bahadur in 1924. These titles were decorations for Indian Muslims – and not, as so many Western writers on the subject seem to assume, parts of Haque's name - and since not many Indian subinspectors ever received such high honours, it is likely that Henry had recommended him for these decorations. Similarly Bose received the decoration Rai Sahib and later Rai Bahadurthe Hindu counterparts of the honours received by Haque. Both also received honoraria of 5,000 rupees each for their contributions to the establishment of fingerprint identification. There is, sadly, nothing intrinsically implausible or even unlikely about a colonial official taking the credit for the contributions of his Indian assistants. but before we completely rewrite the history of the Henry classification, we need more authoritative evidence than we currently possess. All that this evidence allows us to say is that Henry was probably not as appreciative of his two Indian assistants as they may have deserved. The third is an offprint of an article by Shreenivas and Saradindu Narayan Sinha, 'Personal Identification by the Dermatoglyphic and the E-V Methods', Patna Journal of Medicine, 31 (1957): 9Z-108, which claims (on p. 103, without substantiation) that Henry could not initially comprehend Haque's scheme. The system, whatever its origins, ran exceedingly well in practice.

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Sir Douglas Gordon

A former Inspector General of Bengal Police wrote to the Times in 1965 that Henry had placed on special duty two Indian Inspectors to work out a formula or a set of formulae which would enable fingerprints to be classified. This in due course they succeeded in doing and the result of their labours and ingenuity is the basis of the “Henry” system which he brought with him to London when he was appointed Assistant Commissioner at ‘Scotland Yard’ Gordon had known both Haque and Bose during his days in Bengal Police and strongly implied that they and not Henry created the classification. The full credit for the system he declared ‘ rests with the Bengal Police

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H.C. Mitchell

A subsequent letter to ‘The Times’ from H.C. Mitchell , the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Police (UK) Association. Mitchell asserted that it had been Haque who in 1897 had explained the classification to the Government Committee investigating the utility of the fingerprinting. Retired Officers of the Indian Police, he stressed ‘are anxious that the work of Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose should be commemorated and that their names should be on record in India and in this country’

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Shreenivas and Saradindu Narayan Sinha

Dr. Shreenivas and Saradindu Narayan Sinha, in their paper 'Personal Identification by the Dermatoglyphic and the E-V Methods', Patna Journal of Medicine, 31 (1957): 9Z-108, claimed (on p. 103) that when Haque drafted a classification scheme and gave it to Henry, the Inspector General studied it for a week but failed to understand it

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THE CORONERS ACT, 1871 ACT NO. 4 OF 1871

Coroner System introduced in Calcutta And Bombay �[27th January, 1871.]

Post-mortem examination fees to medical witnesses. The Coroner may direct the performance of a postmortem examination with or without an analysis of the contents of the stomach or intestines by any medical witness summoned to attend the inquest : and every medical witness, other than the Chemical Examiner to Government, shall be entitled to such reasonable remuneration as the Coroner thinks fit.

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Other Significant Medical Legislations

1916 Indian Medical Degrees Act (Act No. VII of 1916) passed by Govt.of India to regulate:-

Grant of titles implying qualification in western medical science
Use of such title by unqualified men punishable

Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulation 2002, Amendment 2009

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Videography of Autopsy

Issuance of strict guidelines for investigating cases of custodial deaths, and their compliance by the National Human Rights Commission, has deterred many from falsifying post-mortem reports, particularly when there is evidence of torture. One of the
guidelines mandates videographing the entire process of the inquest and post-mortem examination of the body, thus making the investigation transparent.

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Father of Forensic Medicine

In India

Jaising P Modi 18/6/1875-19/6/1954 He was teaching Medical jurisprudence since 1905 in Agra Medical School and shfted to Lucknow in 1915. First Book by Indian-1920

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The Achievement

The pioneering treatise on forensic medicine in India was published by the medical jurist Norman Chevers in 1856/1870 ?

He wrote that, 'perjury is the rule and not the exception in India '

Before 1947 there were only 21 Medical Colleges, Up to 2009 the number is 301

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Professor Heereshchandra

First medico-legal institute in India was established at Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal in 1977 A.D. as an extension of the department of Forensic Medicine. Professor Heereshchandra was its first director. Who did his MD under Dr. U.P. Verma of Prince of Wales Medical College, Patna

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Founders

Dr. G. B. Sahay of Darbhanga
Prof. I. Bhoosan Rao of Andhra Prade
Prof. NJ Sharma of Goa
Prof. J.K. Lala Of Darbhanga
Prof. J. B. Mukherjee of Calcutta
Dr ATS Iyyengar-of Karnataka
Prof. KC Jacob & PGPaul of Chennai
Prof. PV Guharaj – Kerala
Prof. J. B. Mukherjee of West Bengal
Prof. Jagdish Chandra of New Delhi
Prof. Ahluwalia of Punjab
And other unnamed great ones

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Prof. V.V.Pillay, Poison Control Centre�AIMSR, Cochin

"India Ambassador" for the South Asia Regional Committee of the American College of Medical Toxicology based in Arizona, USA.
His toxicology lab is the only laboratory

Accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
The only PCC in India (with information resource, analytical and research facilities) as per the World Health Organization, Geneva
The American Academy of Clinical Toxicology has provided for free membership to the department, which is another unique achievement in recognition of the services provided by our PCC
Two certificate courses are conducted by the department: Analytical Toxicology & Forensic DNA Typing

The toxicology lab f the AIMS PCC has been accredited by the NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories). It is the only clinical toxicology laboratory in the entire country to be accredited by the NABL

The Poison Control Centre of AIMS is the only full-fledged PCC in India (with information resource, analytical and research facilities) as per the World Health Organization, Geneva

The American Academy of Clinical Toxicology has provided for free membership to the department, which is another unique achievement in recognition of the services provided by our PCC

V.V. Pillayy MD, DCL

V.V.Pillay MD, DCL�

Chief, Poison Control Centre�Head, Dept of Analytical Toxicology

& Forensic Biotechnology�Professor, Forensic & Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology

& Nanotoxicology�Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research�Cochin, Kerala 682041�

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I can give a lot of forensic medicine and toxicology links here…..�Reddy's Chamkura's Forensic page�Hank's Forensic Page (Taiwan)�In addition you may want to go to the following pages:�Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Toxicology Page�Anil Aggrawal's Page of Forensic Quotes and Aphorisms�Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Science Fiction page �Anil Aggrawal’s Forensic Websites �Anil Aggrawal’s Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology�Anil Aggrawal's Page of Forensic Jokes, Puns and Tidbits�Forensic careers �Anil Aggrawal's websites �Criminal Poisoning Discussion Forum �Discuss Forensics with Professor Anil Aggrawal

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Area of Darkness

Recognition of the Speciality
Name of the Subject
Name of Specialist

Medical Jurist/ Medicolegist/ Forensic Medicine Expert/ Post-mortem Doctor

Role of Specialist

Autopsy & Other Medico-legal work done by the MO of the Police station irrespective of qualification

Role of Diener

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PG Students performing Autopsy in 1989 in one of the distinguished Medical Colleges

PG Students performing Autopsy in 1989 in one of the distinguished Medical College�Adherence to Standard Precautions of Bio-safety Level-3 (BSL3) ideally, and BSL2 at the least²⁶ should be followed. These and knowing the principles of Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) are the only ways to minimise the risk to the doctor and also to co-workers. As a matter of fact an ignorant person in mortuary is the most dangerous threat to the safety and life of others attending the autopsy. It is therefore absolutely essential to make everybody aware of the health hazards and risks during autopsy

Eating, drinking, smoking is forbidden completely in mortuary. Even talking should be minimal. Minimum disposable N-95 mask

All autopsy surgeons, their assistants and morgue attendants should be vaccinated against HBV, tetanus, and with BCG if Mantoux negative before they are permitted to work in mortuaries.

Personnel should wear a cap/ hood that covers hair and scalp completely, gloves, masks (disposable N-95 respirators [USA or its equivalent] in all cases suspected to be of tuberculosis), and protective eyewear, surgical shirt with trousers, a full length gown, water proof apron and waterproof boots preferably with steel toecaps when performing autopsy related work in mortuaries. They should wear special tight fitting face mask with micro filter in a case of tuberculosis affected cadaver. Double gloves or wire meshed gloves and preferably disposable spacesuit with face mask and breathing apparatus with proper filter in high risk necropsy* or at least in confirmed cases of AIDS if post-mortem examination is absolutely essential.

It is desirable to change gloves after every one hour of work as a precaution against leaking. Gloves should be changed immediately and hands washed in case leak is suspected. Nearly 10 % of gloves are either leaking or develop leak during autopsy. Nearly 1/3 of leaking gloves go undetected leading to prolonged contact with infecting agent.

Instruments used on a corpse for even minor procedure should be sterilized after use.

Instruments and surfaces contaminated during the postmortem examination should be handled as potentially infective items.

Personnel suffering from dermatitis or cutaneous wounds should not conduct autopsies except after properly covering the area with adhesive plaster bandage. They should not be associated with necropsy work if it is a suspected infective case.

Two layers of adhesive plaster tapes should be wrapped around the finger tips (thumb, index, and middle finger of nondominant hand prior to wearing gloves, in high risk autopsies since the tips of the fingers are more prone to needle stick injury and injury by scalpels: at least one case in every 11 to 55 autopsies depending on the caution and competence of the autopsy surgeon. Approximately 67% of scalpel wounds are inflicted in the area consisting of the distal thumb, index and middle fingers of the nondominant hand ¹¹[12].

Instead of knife or scalpel where ever possible blunt round ended scissors should be used. In case knife is used, it should not be handed over to the assistant directly. Leave it in the tray from where the other man will pick it up.

Exhaust fan of autopsy room should open outside and the air should not be recirculated. Autopsy table should be so arranged that any droplet or aerosol emanating from the corpse is sucked by exhaust away from autopsy surgeon and others.

Never use water pipe which forcefully causes splashing of water and aersolisation. In high risk autopsy dissect lungs/ and brain under transparent plastic cover.

Do not cut bone wherever possible, cut in the cartilaginous area. Be most careful while cutting skull vault with saw or chisel. Hacksaw or hand saw is safer than electric saw which should not be used unless it has powerful sucking device

While trying to remove duramater attached to cranium extreme care should be taken to avoid prick from bony spicules.

Lighting must be adequate, the room must be properly ventilated and the equipment and any contaminated surfaces promptly cleansed, and treated with disinfectant1% sodium hypochlorite or 1:10 dilution of bleach (10,000 ppm available chlorine)

All mortuaries having X-ray facilities for cadavers are required under rules to have radiation measuring instruments including dosimeter and should guard against any radiation in excess of permitted annual radiation to doctors and workers in the mortuary. Level of radon gas and its more harmful decay products should be measured especially if the mortuary is in the basement.

Radiation detection instrument should be available in mortuary for identifying cadavers with radioactivity. These are usually cases of cancers with radioactive implants or radiation. They generally do not pose a significant risk to the autopsy surgeon, his assistants or others. But it is advisable to take standard precautions against radiation namely :- complete the autopsy in the shortest duration possible, do not disturb the tissue/ organ containing the source of radiation, use long handled instruments for dissection, and wear radiation protection lead gown.

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Area of Darkness

Infrastructure for Autopsy

Shortage of Qualified forensic Medicine Expert

Specialists from Private Med. Col. Not Allowed

Condition of Mortuaries

Instruments
Protective Gears
Imaging facility

Functional Pathology Laboratory
FSL (Toxicological)
DNA Lab
Sexual Assault Cases

Medico-legal care of Victims
Search & Preservation of Trace Evidences
Examination of the Accused�

ate

5. Ethical Committees- Institutional/ State/ national

Human rights

6. For medico-legal work all doctors treated equal . No preference to specialist forensic pathologists

7. Forensic Medicine Department hardly ever has functional Laboratory medico-legists are generally clinically oriented.

8. Shortage of FSL. It should be part of deptt. Of Forensic Medicine in every college and should also be in every district

9. A forensic Medicine expert should be posted in every Primary, secondary & Tertiary Health care centre

10. Poor examination of victim of rape Dr. Indrajit Khandekar�Assistant Professor Dept of Forensic Medicine�Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Science�Sevagram, Dist- Wardha (Maharashtra)�

11. Poor infrastructure all over the country.

Histopathological/ Cytological

8. Shortage of FSL at least Poor examination of Sexual Assault Cases

Greater appreciation by the Govt of the value of the discipline

Standards for different regions of the country

Uniformity of procedures and uniformity of language

Mortuaries lacking basic facilities

Shortage of forensic experts.

Shortage of DNA & Forensic lab.

Corruption and professional ethics.

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Corruption in Medico-legal Work

All Medico-legal Examinations should be videorecorded.
Civilization rightly demands an account from the individual on whom the community has conferred the most solemn trust- the safety of the living and the exact truth regarding the cause which may have curtailed the span of normal life- A duty to the living and the dead.

JP Brennan, Coroner Dublin Dec. 1932 In BMJ

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The Hanging Mist

Whether every subject with prefix ‘Forensic’ is part of Forensic Medicine

Forensic Anthropology,
Forensic Ballistics,
Forensic Bio-chemistry
Forensic Entomology,
Forensic Micro-Biology
Forensic Photography
Forensic Psychiatry,
Forensic Radiology,
Forensic Engineering
Forensic Fiction
Forensic Odontology (Dentistry)

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Over Enthusiasm for Unethical Activities

Doctors are associated with Newer techniques like Narcoanalysis, brain mapping and Polygraphy, in some forensic science laboratories in the investigation of various crimes in breach of their ethical standard
Taking part in execution of prisoners.
Force feeding fasting people
It used to be done in Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Russia
Professional secrecy
Brotherhood affected by political waves

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Assessment of Medicolegal Work

Is there a formal system in states by which the police and judicial system can get immediate medical and/or forensic assessment of individuals in police custody?
Who examines police prisoners to determine whether they are medically fit to be detained in police custody?
If a prisoner is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when arrested by police, would he usually be examined to determine whether he should remain in police custody or hospital ?
Do we have specific law making provisions for the welfare of individuals in custody ?
Who assesses forensically victims and suspects in adult sexual assault cases?

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Assessment of Medicolegal Work

Is it possible for an individual to have a same sex examining doctor?
Who assesses child victims?
Is there a means by which those suspected of having mental disorders or learning disabilities may be assessed
In cases of alleged police assault who examines -a) the officers b) the complainant
Is there a body which investigates complaints against police?
Who investigates death in police custody?
Are statistics of death in police custody published?

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FAILURE

When a victim of rape cannot access forensic medical services within a reasonable time and in proper surroundings
When a detained person dies in custody for want of proper medical attention and protection
When Police do not have the medical support to provide for victims of crime and detainees
When doctors are requested to provide an inadequate service in inadequate facilities
When medicine can serve neither health nor justice as it should

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Post Graduate Qualifications

MD/ D.M. Toxicology
Diploma in Medical Jurisprudence (DMJ [Clin])
Diploma in Forensic Medicine (DFM)
Diploma in Forensic Psychiatry
Certificate courses in Forensic Medicine for existing practitioners in forensic medicine.
Graduate Certificate in Sexual Assault Forensic Examination

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29/08/2022