Contents

INJURIES BY MECHANICAL VIOLENCE...........................................................2

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................2
BRUISES/CONTUSIONS................................................................................2
What is Bruises or contusions ?...................................................................3
Bruises or Contusions and Haematomas..................................................3
What is the Cause ?...................................................................................3
Classification of bruises............................................................................3
Factors affecting size & shape.....................................................................4
Types of tissue involved...........................................................................4
Age...........................................................................................................4
Gender........................................................................................................4
Skin Color.................................................................................................5
Case laws....................................................................................................5
Smt.Khello Devi vs State Of Haryana And Others AIR 2005 CriLJ 242......5
Sanjeevan alias Reghu v.The State of Tamil Nadu....................................6
Brij Mohan vs State on 18 May, 2011.......................................................6
Black Eye.....................................................................................................8
Result of Bruises..........................................................................................8
Age of a Bruise............................................................................................8

INJURIES BY MECHANICAL VIOLENCE

INTRODUCTION
For medico-legal purposes, injuries caused by mechanical violence are divided
into contusions, abrasions and other wounds. The word, injury, denotes any
harm caused to any person in body, mind, reputation or property.

BRUISES/CONTUSIONS

 Definition:
Extravasation of blood into soft tissues, due to rupture of blood vessels in
the S/C tissues.NO loss of continuity of the Skin.

What is Bruises or contusions ?

Bruises or contusions are injuries which are caused by a blow from a weapon
such as whip, iron bar, stone, ball, fingers, fist, boots or bya fall or by
compression. These are accompanied by a painful swelling and crushing or the
subcutaneous tissues without solution of continuity of the skin. The swelling is
due rupture of the small subcutaneous blood vessels producing in the cellular
tissue extravasation of blood, which is known as ecchymosis. The term effusion
of ordinarily limited to extravasation of blood in a pleural cavity. Hematomas
are formed .en large blood vessels are injured.

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Bruises or Contusions and Haematomas

. Contusion or bruises are formed due to the rupture of small subcutaneous blood vessels.
Skin is intact.
Haematomas are formed when there is a collection of blood due to injury to large
blood vessels.
Swelling, tenderness and discoloration of the skin are the signs of contusion
haematomas.
. They appear after sustaining the injury. Sometimes, it is delayed by one or two
days.
_ .
,
. They can appear either at the site of impact or away from it. Blood may gravitate to some
other place in the same anatomical plane- black eye .
. There is extravasation of blood, which is known as ecchymosis with or without abrasion
over it.
. They do not occur due to post-mortem violence.

What is the Cause ?

Blunt force Eg. Blow with Fist, Stick, Cane etc.

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Classification of bruises
Intra Dermal:
Bruise lies in Sub-epidermal layer.
Subcutaneous: (most common)
Bruise lies in S/C tissue, often in fatty layer Edges are blurred
Deep:
Deeper to S/C tissue.
May take hours to 1-2 days to appear at the surface

Factors affecting size & shape

Types of tissue involved
Soft, lax & vascular tissue (face, scrotum & eyelids) Less Force produces Large
Bruise.
Tissues, strongly supported & containing fibrous tissue (Abdomen, back, scalp)
More force produces Smaller Bruise
Types of tissue involved
Bruise on Scalp -- Better felt than seen.
Tissues overlying bone Bruise is more marked

Age
Children & Elderly - Bruise easily
Child - Soft tissue & Delicate skin

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Elderly - Loss of S/C supportive tissue &

CVS changes.
Elderly - Bruise takes more time to heal.

Gender
Women bruise easily --Tissues are Delicate & S/C fat is more.
Obese people - Bruise Easily
Tissues are Delicate.

Skin Color
Fair skin - Bruise is clearly seen.
Dark Skin - Better felt than seen
Ecchymosis makes its appearance over the seat of injury in one or two
hours after the injury .it may appear in lesser time, if the skin injured is
very thin, as in the eyelids and ' When Ecchymosis has occurred in the
deeper tissues or under tense fasciae, it the surface at an interval of one
or two days or even more, at some distance --"seat of injury following the
line of least resistance and in obedience to the law of gravity known as
ectopic bruises), for example, the appearance of a black-eye in the case
ion on the forehead or on the head. Sometimes, ecchymosis may not
appear until after the death, when a contusion has been caused a few
hours or a day or two day before death. bruises or contusions are
accompanied by a painful swelling and crushing or tearing of the
subcutaneous tissues without solution or continuity of the skin 2

Case laws
Smt.Khello Devi vs State Of Haryana And Others AIR
2005 CriLJ 242
the injuries described in the second post mortem report were ante
mortem in nature. However, as delayed bruising is a well known
phenomenon and as all the injuries described over the head were bruises
(contusions) the possibility of delayed bruising in this case cannot be ruled
out as the second post mortem was done around 24 hours of the death of
2 Lal Singh vs The State, AIR 1956 CriLJ 1385

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the patient and appearance of bruise takes some time to appear. This may
be the case in the scrotal injury described.

Sanjeevan alias Reghu v.The State of Tamil Nadu

In the present case Appeal filed under Section 374 of the Criminal
Procedure Code against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge. The
accused is convicted by session judge under section 377 and 302 ipc and
the following forensic science evidences were attached such as
Appearances found at the post-mortem
1. The lid edematous.
2. 5 x 4 cm abrasion seen over right side of forehead.
3. Abrasion with contusion 6 x 5 cm over right cheek.
4. Abrasion 5 x . cm over the neck.
5. Abrasion 10 x 5 cm over right cheek.
6. Abrasion 6 x 4 cm over left side of cheek.
7. Abrasion with contusion 6 x 2 cm over right shoulder.
8. Abrasion 5 x 4 cm middle of chest.
9. Scratch abrasion of varying sizes over an of 20 x 12 cm over the front
of left thigh.
10. Abrasion 4 x 2 cm over the front of middle of neck.
11. Abrasion 2 x 2 cm front of left knee.
A finding of a Criminal Court is acceptable only when it is supported by
legal and valid evidence and such the evidences put on record are valid
and in the present case the accused is convicted

Brij Mohan vs State on 18 May, 2011

the deceased showed them bruises and contusions on the body caused by
the beatings given by the Appellant (the brother-in-law, mother-in-law and
the sister-in-law) these persons used to beat her once in a week to 10
days and demanded 30,000/- in cash, failing which they threatened to kill
her . bruises and contusions showed she was being tortured for dowry and
was ill treated before her death thus the accused were convicted under
304b
The extent of ecchymosis depends, in ordinary circumstances, upon the
verity of the force used, the vascularity of the part struck, amount of sub:
looseness of the underlying cellular tissues and the condition of the Thus,
ecchymosis will be extensive in soft, lax and vascular tissues, such 25

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scrotum and vulva, and very little in tough and less vascular tissues, such
palm of the hand or sole of the foot. Again, it may not appear in the at
cart-wheel were to pass over the body, and may cause death from the
ruptur; nal organ or from injuries due to scars. In cases of fatal internal
injuries, their - any sign of ecchymosis on the body, when a person is
assaulted even with ar lathi (blunt weapon), after he is covered with a
thick rug, blanket or a quik of ecchymosis is also present if the weapon
used is a yielding one, such as . Sometimes, the situation of a bruise may
not coincide with that of the place if 1 may be a little away or below it
depending upon the direction of the planes of: and areolar tissues. The
shape and size of the ecchymosis may give no indicar j shape or size of
the object responsible for causing it, though sometimes the pam bruise
resembles the object causing it.
Ecchymosis is easily produced even by slight violence in children be
delicate skin and in obese, flabby and old people because of
subcutaneous other hand, it will be very slight if a person happens to be
strong and muscular ; alcoholics bruise easily.
In certain pathological conditions, such as scurvy, purpura, leukaemia,
er.1 dosum, haemophilia, malignant cases of infectious diseases, toxic
manifest drugs, and in the aged with sluggish circulation, a slight blow or
pressure 1 duce an extensive ecchymosis. In such cases, subcutaneous
haemorrhages spontaneously and may be mistaken for ecchymosis, but
they can be easily from their number, size, and symmetrical situation and
from the absence of; over the spots. Hypertensive patients also have a
tendency to extravasations which resolve rather slowly. Subcutaneous
haemorrhages may also result muscular exertion as in epileptic seizures.
These are usually numerous, but size. Bruising of the neck by fingers or by
ligature is also seen. Small elliptical the neck or breasts due to suction
may he seen.
Sub-conjunctival ecchymosis due to the rupture of small vessels may
occu- from a blow to the eye or indirectly from a blow or fall on the head.
They are c ~ in children suffering from whooping cough, and may
sometimes result Iron straining during sneezing, coughing, vomitting, or
lifting heavy weights, especia > people.

Black Eye.Bruising in the eye lid is commonly called as black eye.

It caused in three different ways:
(a) By direct trauma such as a punch in the eye;
(b)Blood gravitating downwards over the supra-orbital bridge from
an the frontal area of the scalp; and

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(c) Blood entering the orbit from behind or above due to a crack in the
wa orbit, most often a fracture of the floor of the anterior fossa of
the skull

Result of Bruises.Bruises are, as a rule, simple injuries. They are

seldom less accompanied by the rupture of an internal organ, or by
extensive crushing o: sues and large extravasation of blood, producing
sloughing and gangrene of the However, several bruises, though trivial
individually, may cause death from shod.

Age of a Bruise.The age of a bruise may be ascertained from the

colour c - which its ecchymosis undergoes during absorption.

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Duration

Color

Pigment

Fresh

Reddish

(oxygenated
blood)

Few Hrs to 3
days

Bluish

(carboxy Hb)

4-5 days

Bluish Black to
Brown

Hemosiderin

5-6 days

Green

Biliverdin

7-12

Yellow

Billirubin

2 wks

Normal