title: A study of unnatural female death profile in Lucknow, India.
abstract: Epidemiological and medicolegal, including forensic pathological, aspects of 456 cases of unnatural deaths of females aged 16 to 30 years were studied in Lucknow during the period of 1 year (May 2, 2011 to May 1, 2012). These constituted 62.5% of the total unnatural deaths autopsied from all ages in females. Most of the victims were young Hindu housewives killed or who died within 7 years of marriage. The most common cause was vehicular accidents followed by poisons and burns. The homicidal, suicidal, and accidental deaths were 87, 129, and 240, respectively. The common motives and circumstances were mental stress due to various reasons, family quarrel, maladjustment in married life, and cruelty by the in-laws. Level of education, joint family structure, unemployment, dependence of the woman on the in-laws, infidelity, large families, and failure in love in unmarried girls were other contributing factors affecting the incidence. The study suggests different measures to check unnatural female deaths to improve the situation.
authors.affiliation: From the CSM Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sachil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Anoop Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Wahid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Irfan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Uma Shankar
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000024:Abortion, Illegal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000401:mortality; D002056:Burns / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality; D004522:Educational Status; D054541:Family Conflict; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D018596:Hinduism; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007514:Islam; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011041:Poisoning / Q000401:mortality; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult