Journal of Forensic Research

Despite repeated warnings, newspaper reports of fatalities and public health and safety campaigns; accidental deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning continue to occur. They can be from accident, ignorance, criminal negligence or foolhardiness; what ever the reason such deaths are tragic and often avoidable. The case presented here was some of these. The physiology and biochemistry is discussed as well as other unusual causes of death by suffocation. This includes the use and abuse of helium from party balloons and nitrous oxide from the misuse of whipped cream dispensers provoking near suffocation and the occasional deaths, though fortunately rare.

Various physical and trace evidences allow a range of possibilities to carry out forensic investigations. Fingerprints, DNA profiling, Forensic anthropology are commonly employed in personnel identification, mass disasters, inclusion and exclusion. In spite of existing as a methodology in forensic science cheiloscopy has not been successfully utilized. The present study deals with the similarity of lip print patterns among parents and children. The total sample size consisted of 1399 individualsin the age group of 8-60 years belonging to Brahmins, Jats and Scheduled castes from Haryana and Delhi. Furthermore 8 monozygotic twin pairs were also taken in the present work.There persists resemblance among parents and children in their lip print patterns. But no significant association was found in the lip print patterns among twins. This can be an aid for narrowing down investigations, inclusions, exclusions and also a basis for genetic and inheritance implications.

The mortuary is the most neglected and ignored place in almost all the peripheral hospitals as well as medical colleges. It is not having even basic facilities for the departed souls, public and officials working there. It is a well known fact that from the overall expenditure of any hospital, a very minute share is spent on the autopsy facility; it being considered a necessary evil. Consequently, the overall environment in a mortuary is depressing and gloomy; this situation is further compounded by administrative apathy towards medico-legal work as a whole. Despite these setbacks, a ray of hope emerges from judicial judgments on this issue. Keeping in view these points along with judicially pushed compulsion on the authorities to streamline and improve mortuaries, we present a lay out for the ideal mortuary complex designed for medical colleges and peripheral hospitals.