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NECK COMPRESSION ASPHYXIAL DEATHS BY LIGATURE – A DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF WESTERN RAJASTHAN

The tripod of life comprises of three vital organs namely brain, heart and lungs. Serious pathological and morphological abnormalities of any part of the body prove fatal due to direct or indirect involvement of either or all of the organs of tripod of life. Essential structures of neck including nerves, blood vessels, and other have a direct or indirect control on the function of respiratory, circulatory and nervous system. The compression of the neck involving the important structures may prove fatal. One of the major modes of death is asphyxia and type of asphyxia most commonly encountered in medico legal practice is mechanical asphyxia. Among the means of producing mechanical asphyxia, constriction around the neck plays a major role. 
Backgroubd: Hanging is one of the most common methods of suicide in India; other types of hangings are homicidal hanging, judicial hanging, and autoerotic hanging (camps et al, 1976)3. Hanging differs from strangulation in which the neck is constricted irrespective of any effect caused by the weight of the body. The various structures damaged in hanging and strangulation include the soft tissues like skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia, muscles, blood vessels, lymph nodes and the bony and cartilage tissues like the hyoid bone and larynx  (A. Keithmant, 1984)1. 
Various forms of strangulations are ligature strangulation, throttling, mugging, garrotting, bansdola etc (Simpson and knight, 1988)13. 
As till now very less studies has been carried out in western Rajasthan on demographic pattern of deaths due to compression of neck by ligature matterial. A study of asphyxial  deaths by ligature matterial that is hanging and ligature strangulation in relation of sex, age, region and religion  has been undertaken. 
 Keywords: Hanging, Strangulation, Ligature, Neck, Demographic, Medico-Legal.