2017

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CUSTODIAL DEATHS
29-Jul-18
Medicolegal aspects of death in custody

Custodial deaths are those occurring while aperson is

either in the custody of police or is an inmate of a
prison. A meticulous autopsy is needed to confirm or
dispel the allegations that an act of commission or
omission on the part of custodians has led to, or
contributed to, the death.

Forensic
Science

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DR.Roman Al Mamun
Roman Al Mamun
DR.
Forensic Science,Autopsy surgeon and Forensic
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Death Investigator.
12/2/2017
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Roman Al Mamun
DR.

CUSTODIAL DEATHS:

Custodial deaths are those occurring while aperson is either in the custody
of police or is an inmate of a prison.
A meticulous autopsy is needed to confirm or dispel the allegations that an
act of commission or omission on the part of custodians has led to, or
contributed to, the death.
It is sometimes helpful to the pathologist to visit the scene of the death,
especially if it was caused by hanging or some form of mechanical trauma.
Situations under which death may occur in custody:
The death may occur during or soon after the arrest by the police officers
during physical struggle, especially when the police officers are attempting
to control or overpower the resisting offender.
The offender may also threaten the police officers with a knife, gun or blunt
weapon and the police have to subdue him either by sheer physical force,
truncheons or riot sticks or by the use of firearms.The arrest of a drunken
offender poses many problems.
Causes of Deaths During Arrest:

1.Traumatic asphyxia:
When several policemen fall upon a resisting offender to overpower him.
2. Arm-locks or neck holds:
Applied by police officers to resisting persons are other causes of deaths
during arrest. The arm lock is applied either from behind or with the head of
the offender tucked under the police officer’s arm against the waist.
The dangers are compression of the front and sides of the neck and death
can occur either from reflex cardiac arrest or cerebral ischemia during
carotid compression or asphyxia from airway obstruction, though the latter
is unlikely to be the sole mechanism.
3. Blunt injury:
may occur from the use of fist, arm or leg and by use of a weapon such as
a truncheon, riot stick or pistol butt.

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DR.

Any type of blunt injury may be received. Head injuries may occur during a
scuffle from falls either against the ground, or against a wall or other
obstruction.
A heavy punch in the face may cause nasopharyngeal bleeding that can
block the airpassages, especially in a person affected by alcohol. A blow on
the sides of the neck can cause reflex cardiac arrest or a subarachnoid
haemorrhage from vertebrobasialar vascular damage.
A backward blow from the point of an elbow can be damaging, if it strikes
the face, neck or abdomen. Kicking and stamping are unusual, but not
uncommon in custodial deaths.
A blow in the abdomen can be fatal if delivered with sufficient force.
Though in an adult a fist blow is not very likely to cause serious damage, it
can in a very younger person. The use of the elbow, knee or a head butt
can deliver extreme force, especially from a fit, muscular police officer as
well as from the offender.
4.Alcohol:
is a frequent cause of death in custody and also it is major factor in
provoking aggression and violent resistance.
When blood alcohol levels rise to above 350mg/100mL there is an
increasing risk of coma and central respiratory depression. At lower blood
alcohol levels there is still the risk of aspiration of vomitus and choking on
gastric contents.
At autopsy, this aspiration should be distinguished from the common
agonal phenomenon. Where an otherwise healthy person dies with a high
blood alcohol concentration in these circumstances, then gross blocking of
the trachea and bronchi with vomit can be accepted as the cause of death.
Alcohol also attributes to accidents during custody, especially head injuries
resulting from falls on the ground, falls down steps and stairs.
Falls onto a hard surface are often on the occiput and the frequent finding
of frontal and temporal contrecoup brain damage at autopsy is good
evidence of a deceleration injury rather than an assault with a weapon.
Some falls may occur during custody or in transit from the site of arrest to
the police station and the police is often blamed for allowing or causing the
injury.

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Drugs such as amphetamine, cocaine or hallucinogen may also lead to

physical damage. Drugs are commonly available within prisons and
overdose and hypersensitivity deaths are occasionally seen.
5.Suicides
in custody are quite common. Most police forces deprive the prisoner of
any objects that could be used to hang himself in the cells such as belts,
braces, cord or even bootlaces.
In addition, the police cell may be specifically designed to avoid any
convenient suspension points, such as bars, hooks, internal door handles.
Nevertheless, prisoners regularly manage to find some means of killing
themselves as hanging can be successfully accomplished by traction on
the neck at low levels and need not occur at high suspension points, so
prisoners have killed themselves by attaching ligatures to bed-heads,
chairs and other unlikely objects in the cell.
At autopsy homicidal hanging should be ruled out by the absence of signs
of struggle and other injuries resulting in death.
The person at times may be hanged after killing to simulate suicide. The
situation is fully assessed preferably by a visit to the scene with the body at
the site.
6.Others:
Deaths may occur from purely natural causes,usually of cardiovascular
origin and no objective proof can be provided when the emotional and
physical upset of being arrested and confinement may have affected the
blood pressure and heart rate sufficiently, by an adrenaline response, to
have precipitated an acute cardiac crisis in the presence of severe
preexisting disease.
The presence of diabetes, epilepsy, asthma or other diseases that can
potentially cause sudden or unexpected death should be sought for by
medical history and autopsy appearances.
Investigations of Custodial Deaths:

1. All deaths in custody should be examined with care to ensure that the
guardians are cleared of any suspicion of ill-treatment.
2. The torture and custodial deaths are confirmed by circumstantial and
corroborative evidence.

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3. The victim is usually in detention in or some form of custody.

4. Such types of death are usually involved with the non-cooperating
attitude of the authorities that are hostile to impartial injury.
5. The cases are handed over to the responsible authorities such as Red
cross, Amnesty International, Physicians for human rights.
6. There is usually delay in the process before a victim is being brought for
examination, the injuries may have healed and body may have
decomposed. Body is sometimes disposed off early.
7. The causes of deaths in torture or custodial deaths may be sepsis,
haemorrhage, internal organ injury and even sheer exhaustion.

Recommendations of the National Human Rights

Commission in custodial deaths:

 The commission has required all District Magistrates/

Superintendents of the Police to report any instance of custodial
death or rape directly to the commission within 24 hours of
occurrence. Failure to send such reports, it has been emphasized
would lead to a presumption by the commission that an effort was
being made to suppress the occurrence.
 The commission believes that the country must act deliberately and
decisively to end custodial violence and signify to itself and to the
World that it will not countenance brutality in custody.
 The chairperson made clear that a permissive approach to the use of
third degree methods in investigation led to serious violations of the
right of the citizens of India and that it was wrong to believe that such
practices were necessary for the successful investigation of cases
and the matter continues to be pursued.
 The commission is of the view that a recommendation should be
made for the insertion of a Section 114(B) in the 1872 to introduce a
rebuttable presumption that injuries sustained by a person in police
custody may be presumed to have been caused by a police officer.
 The commission supports the recommendation that section 197
Cr.P.C. to be amended to obviate the necessity of governmental

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sanction for the prosecution of police officer where a prima facie case
has been established in an enquiry conducted by a session’s judge,
of the commission of a custodial offence.
 The commission also endorses the view that there should be a
mandatory enquiry by a session’s judge, in each case of custodial
death, rape or grievous hurt.
 Commission believes that the arrested person being held in the
custody is entitled, if he so requests to have a friend, relative or any
other person who is known to him, or likely to take an interest in his
welfare, to be informed that he has been arrested and told of where
he has been detained.
 The compensation due to the next of kin of those who have died in
custody should be the liability of not just the state government but of
the offending police officials themselves.
 The commission gathered detailed information from all the states
regarding the manner in which postmortem examination were being
conducted, it was found to be substantial time gap between the PM
 examination and writing of the report; facilities in many mortuaries
were abysmal and there is lack of trained and qualified personnel.
 The chairperson of the commission recommended all postmortem
examination in respect of deaths in police or jail custody to be video-
filmed and the cassettes sent to the commission together with the
written reports of postmortem examination.

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