title: Victimiologic study of female homicide.
abstract: Female homicide is one of the leading causes of injury deaths in women. In most of such killings, spouses are usually involved because of one or the other reason. The purpose of the study is to identify the risk factors and nature of violence from victimologic point of view in female homicide. Information was obtained by interviewing the accompanying persons, postmortem examination and perusal of hospital records. There were 39 female victims of total 162 homicide. The peak age of the female homicide victim was 3rd decade. The victims were most frequently killed by their spouses. Argument (33.3%) and dowry (30.7%) were the most frequent reasons behind the crime. Majority of victims (84.6%) were killed in their home. Fatal wound is most frequently seen in head and defense wound is present only in nine cases. Considering sociological aspect of victim, 82% of the victims were from Hindu religion, majorities of them were married, illiterate, and drawn from low-socioeconomic status and rural community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India. manmohanty@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Manoj Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: Manoj Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Panigrahi
authors.forename: Sachidananda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: Srimanta Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data