`Flies That Colonise Corpse Help To Determine Time Of Death'

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Flies and their life cycles are crucial in forensic investigation for estimating the time of death of a person. Free Press talked to Dr DK Satpathy, former director, medicolegal department, Gandhi Medical College, on aspects related to post-mortem. Excerpts.

It is challenging for forensic experts to find out time of death of a person. How it is calculated?

Blowflies are among the first insects to colonise a corpse, often within minutes to hours after death of a person. They are attracted by the odours released during decomposition of the body. Blowflies go through distinct stages of development, that is, egg, larva, pupa and adult. On knowing the stage of these flies, we determine the time of death.

By analysing the stage of development of flies found on a body, particularly blowflies, forensic entomologists can calculate the time of death of a person and know how long the body has been lying exposed. Even bone testing gives correct result of time period of death, which helps in solving years old suspicious deaths.

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Post-mortem is done in day time. Demand is raised to conduct it at night also to reduce the waiting time. Is it justified?

In cases of law and order concerns and organ donation, it has to be prioritised. If adequate infrastructure is available, night-time post-mortems can be conducted. In case of road accidents in which there is no suspicion, post-mortem should be allowed at night as relatives wait all night at mortuary. In planned post-mortem, post-mortem should be conducted during the day for accuracy.

Though night-time post-mortems offer benefits like reduced waiting time, ethical consideration regarding the comfort of staff and possibility of errors need careful assessment.

What is condition of forensic investigation in Madhya Pradesh?

For doctors, post-mortem is second priority. Top priority is diagnosis of patients. Even medical students only focus on diagnosis. So, forensic science is not on priority for them, which affects the overall result. There is no medicolegal officer at district level in the state. It reflects lack of will power on part of the government. Government doesn’t have to do much for it. All it has to do is assign a doctor only for post-mortem at district level at same salary, which it is paying for diagnosis. But there is no policy on this matter, so there is no particular doctor for it.

What should be done to ensure justice or conviction in criminal cases?

All the three – the lawyers, judicial officials and investigating officials (police) are non-medical people who interrogate medicolegal persons in court during trial. This is the main lapse in the system.

Actually, there must be proper training on medicolegal aspect for all these three officials to develop coordinated mechanism so that they will understand things from medical point of view. Our reply, which is from medical point of view, is neither understood by investigation official or lawyer. So, how will the conviction rate improve? Government should pay attention to it.