014. Contusions-the vital evidence

A remarkable case came to me in the summer of 1992. Bali Ram, a nine-year-old stepchild of Hari Ram and Bhairon Devi had fallen down the stairs and had fallen down the stairs and had died. Actually, when he fell down the stairs, there was a big hue and cry in the neighborhood. Some neighbors came to the spot immediately and brought the child to LNJP casualty. The child was declared dead on arrival and sent to me for post mortem examination.

A few facts about the family may be said her, before we go on further. HariRam had lost his first wife Kasturi about 5 years back. She had died of tuberculosis. Bali Ram was Kasturi's son. After Kasturi's death, Hari Ram became a recluse for almost two years, but gradually the shock of his wife's death faded and Hari Ram married for the second time. From the beginning, it was apparent that Bhairon Devi, the new bride hated Bali Ram intensely. In the beginning, she would merely ignore him but gradually she started handing him more severe punishment. She would often beat him and deny him food.

I got this history from the neighbor. The moment I got this history, I became very cautious and decided to look for clues that might give me the correct story.

The boy had died from head injury which he had sustained during the fall from stairs. There were several fractures on his skull, and the brain inside showed blood clots. This was ample proof that he had indeed fallen down the stairs.

However, the clues that could give me some 'behind-the scene' story still eluded me. Finally I turned over the body and looked for injuries more closely. There were several contusions on the back. these are also known as bruises. In common parlance, in Hindi, we know these as "Neel". These are commonly caused by blunt force application.

I had looked at these contusions before starting the post-mortem, but at that time I thought that they were produced by fall from stairs. Contusions can indeed be produced by a fall from the stairs. However, when I looked at them closely, I found them to have some pattern. These contusions are known as patterned contusions and are quite helpful in the forensic work. They tell us the shape of the object which was used to hit the deceased. If the hitting object was a lathi or an iron rod, the contusions would be linear in shape. If a hockey stick was used to beat the deceased, the contusions would take the shape of hockey stick and so on.

Look at the figure A and you would realize that the contusions indeed have a pattern. I tried to decipher what the object could be, but the exact object eluded me. Then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, the object came to my mind. It had to be a coat-hanger. The contusions looked exactly like that.

I told this fact to the police officer Tejpal. I thought that Bali Ram was first mercilessly beaten by Bhairon Devi and then pushed down from the stairs. If this point of view could be proved, it would change the whole scenario from an accident to murder! The case was beginning to take a serious turn.

Bhairon Devi was summoned by Tejpal, the investigating officer, and questioned. She reaffirmed that Bali Ram had indeed fallen down the stairs and she hadn't beaten him. She asserted that she loved Bali Ram like her own child. How ever her neighbors refused to confirm her assertion that she loved Bali Ram like her own child. They asserted that she often beat Bali Ram.

Finally Tejpal decided to search her house. The specific thing he was looking for, was the hanger with which Baliram was supposed to have been beaten. Finally he indeed found the hanger and brought it to me. When I matched the shape of the hanger with that of the contusions, the shapes corresponded completely. (See figure B). This testified that the boy was indeed beaten.

This evidence broke Bhairon Devi and she confessed the whole crime. She was duly prosecuted by the court on my evidence and sentenced to life imprisonment. This case amply illustrates, how a seemingly trivial clue can turn a case entirely.

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