Poisoning deaths in married women

Abstract

Unnatural deaths of married women amongst the total female deaths have been an increasing trend in Indian society during the recent past years. These unnatural deaths may be suicide, homicide or even accidents. But these suicides and homicides are currently more commonly associated with the dowry disputes. In India, dowries are a continuing series of gifts endowed before and after the marriage. When dowry expectations are not met, the young bride may be killed or compelled to commit suicide, either by burning, poisoning or by some other means. Here, in the study, the main objective is to present the different epidemiological and medicolegal aspects of poisoning deaths in the married women. In a cohort of 200 married female deaths, 35 (18%) were poisoning deaths and these were analyzed from both epidemiological and medicolegal aspects. In this series, most of the women consumed organophosphorus compound and died within 10 days. The majority of the affected wives due to dowry problems were below 35 years of age. Most incidents occurred either during morning hour or during daytime.