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AUTOPSY FINDINGS in CASES of FEMICIDE Irum Sohail1, Mohammad Arshad2, Maria Habib3

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AUTOPSY FINDINGS in CASES of FEMICIDE Irum Sohail1, Mohammad Arshad2, Maria Habib3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE AUTOPSY FINDINGS IN CASES OF FEMICIDE Irum Sohail1, Mohammad Arshad2, Maria Habib3 1 Department of Obstetrics/ ABSTRACT Gynaecology, KRL Hospital, Objective: To see the autopsy findings amongst female victims so as to com- Islamabad-Pakistan. pare in literature if there was difference from male victims of homicide. 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, Al-Nafees Medical Methodology: This retrospective study was carried out in Pakistan Institute of College, Islamabad-Pakistan. Medical Sciences, Islamabad during January 2013 to December 2014. A com- 3 Department of Obstetrics/ plete autopsy data of female victims were collected during the study period Gynaecology, Military Hospi- from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad from the chief casualty tal, Rawalpindi-Pakistan. medical officer record office. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS version 19. Address for Correspondence: Dr. Irum Sohail Results: Out of a total of 241 autopsies being performed in the study period, Professor, 52 cases of female autopsies were identified. Overall the ratio of male to female Department of Obstetrics/ was 3.6:1 during both years. Cause of death could be identified in 80% of the Gynaecology, KRL Hospital, cases only. Asphyxial deaths were the most common reasons amongst females Islamabad-Pakistan. (45%) followed by firearms (35%), sharp weapon injuries (3%), blunt weapon Email: [email protected] injuries (3%) and burns (2%). No cases of drowning or accidental deaths or Date Received: pregnancy related deaths were found. February 05, 2017 Conclusion: In cases of femicide, asphyxial deaths were the most common rea- Date Revised: sons followed by firearms, sharp or blunt weapon injuries and burns. October 25, 2017 Date Accepted: Key Words: Femicide, Victims, Cause of death, Autopsy November 04, 2017 This article may be cited as: Sohail I, Arshad M, Habib M. Autopsy findings in cases of femicide. J Postgrad Med Inst 2017; 31(4): 383-6. INTRODUCTION males by other females in the interests of men”. Exam- ples include killing of female children in preference to Femicide is a sexual/ gender hate crime term, broad- male child as well as dowry related deaths where female ly defined as the killing of women but definitions vary in-laws kill women in dowry disputes. Thus all of these depending on the cultural context. Broadly, this term definitions refer to the idea that femicide is unique from includes verbal and physical abuse, crime, domestic vi- descriptions of murder and homicide. olence, rape, sexual harassment, genital mutilations and Every year 66,000 women are violently killed glob- mass murder of female babies due to male preference. ally. In United States, alone the rates have fluctuated Diana Russell is considered the pioneer who narrowed between 3.8–4.5 deaths per 100,000 women3. One of the use of this term to ”the killing of females by males the largest predictions of femicide in these cases was 1 because they are female” . The term femicide was first the appearance of physical abuse which was found in 2 used in England in 1801 to signify the killing of women . 79% of all cases. In Southeast Asia, India as being, the Diana Russell in 1976 emphasized the term femicide for most populous country has millions of girls and women homicide, which she used for the recognition of sexual killed through various forms of femicides of various age politics of mass murder. She stated that from the burn- groups. In Pakistan, the exact figure is yet to be known ing of witches in the past to the more recent custom of but according to an estimate thousands of women are female infanticide and the killing of women for honour victims of dowry deaths4. Moreover, nearly 500 women was one or the other form of femicide. a year are the victims of honour killings5. Unfortunately most of these deaths remain unnoticed due to the fact Femicide is distinct from general homicide in a way that these occur in the domestic work place. that it can occur in domestic settings as a result of in- timate partner or family violence while homicide often Under normal circumstances, a descendant’s body is include street violence and organized crime. Most of the property of the next to kin, guardian or nearest rel- the definitions given by these activists from West imply ative. However, in deaths that are unusual, unnatural or that perpetrator of femicide is a man but South Asian suspicious in nature the state has an overriding interest feminists differ in their definitions stating that femicide which supersedes the interests of the family thus an au- is “the intentional killing of females by men and of fe- topsy can be ordered. JPMI VOL. 31 NO. 4 383 AUTOPSY FINDINGS IN CASES OF FEMICIDE Autopsy in Pakistan is carried under the section 174 RESULTS in the code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and is done on the information received by a police officer that a per- A total of 241 autopsies were performed in the year son has committed suicide or has been killed by anoth- 2013-2014, we had 52 autopsies of the females. In year er or has died under suspicious circumstances, which 2013, this ratio of male to female was 3.3:1, whereas in favours the fact that some other person has committed the year 2014 it was 4.2:1. Overall, this ratio remained an offence. The executive magistrate is the person who as 3.6:1. orders autopsy in such cases. In both years data, the age distribution of the female This study was done to look into the autopsy find- victims remained the same. Maximum victims (n=26, ings amongst female victims only so as to compare in 50%) were seen belonging to the age group of 16-30 literature if there was difference from male victims of years. The next common age group was 31-45 years, homicide. which was 23% (n=12) (Table 1). In ascertaining the cause of death, it could be detected in 42 i.e. 80% of the METHODOLOGY cases only while one of the victim had died her natural It was a retrospective study of two years (2013-2014) death. In 15.4% (n=8) of the cases no cause could be where autopsy records of only female victims were an- detected amongst which there were 3 skeletons where alyzed. The data was gathered from the tertiary care soft tissues evidence was missing. One body was ex- hospital Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islam- humed and again the soft tissue evidence was missing abad from the chief casualty medical officer record of- but the skull showed injuries, which could be possible fice where all the autopsies performed in the hospital due to the blunt trauma. Out of the remaining 4 cases are entered into a record register. We had 31 autop- the cause remained unknown. In two (3.8%) cases, the sies of females in 2013 while in 2014 it was 21. Only organs have been sent for chemical testing due to the those cases were included in the study where the data suspicion of poisoning and the reports were still await- of the autopsy findings were complete. This study was ed to give the final reason for death. approved by the hospital ethical review committee. Sta- Table 2 gives a distribution of the patterns of femi- tistical analysis was done by SPSS version19. cide in which asphyxial deaths were the most common Table 1: Age profile (n=52) Age (years) No. (n) %ge 1-15 9 17.3% 16-30 26 50% 31-45 12 23.1% 46-60 2 3.8% >60 2 3.8% Unknown 1 1.9% Total 52 100% Table 2: Pattern of femicide (n=42) Pattern of Femicide No. %ge Sharp Weapon Injuries 3 (7.14%) Blunt Weapon Injuries 3 (7.14%) Firearms 15(35.71%) Burns 2 (4.76%) Asphyxial Deaths 19 (45.24%) A. Strangulation 9 (21.4%) B. Strangulation and Sexual Assault 1 (2.38%) C. Smothering 5(11.9%) D. Smothering and Sexual Assault 1(2.38%) E. Hanging 3 (7.14%) JPMI VOL. 31 NO. 4 384 AUTOPSY FINDINGS IN CASES OF FEMICIDE reasons amongst females i.e. 45% (n=19) and amongst in Peshawar24, D.I.Khan25, Taxila26 and Mirpur19. these strangulation were seen in 9 cases (21.4%). Rela- A stark difference was noted while the causes of tive frequencies of other causes of femicide are shown death were being analyzed in our study group. Max- in table 2. No cases of drowning or accidental deaths or imum of the study victims had died due to asphyxial pregnancy related deaths were found. causes. In sharp contrast to the local studies done in DISCUSSION Taxila26 D.I.Khan25, Mirpur19 where firearm injuries was found to be the leading cause of death. In Karachi along Violence against women comprises a wide range of with firearm injuries, road traffic accidents together acts from verbal harassment to daily physical or sexu- formed a major reason for autopsy27. al abuse. At the extreme ends, is the femicide i.e. the murder of a woman. Different areas of the world expe- An analysis of the regional studies from India showed rience varying types of femicides. In Middle East and that sharp and blunt weapons were the main cause of 14,28 South Asia there is a higher rate of honour killing which death according to the postmortem reports . Firearm is defined as the murder of women by their family due injuries were far less than those reported in our country. to an actual or assumed sexual or behavioral transgres- Evaluation of the homicidal deaths in West revealed 6 sion such as adultery, sexual intercourse or even rape .
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