Forensic Extracts by Dr. Sunil Duchania

  Euthanasia ( Greek word ‘ Eu ’ meaning good and ‘ thanatos ’ meaning death ‘good death,’ ‘die well,’ ‘mercy killing). It may be defined as the doctrine or theory that in certain circumstances when owing to disease, senility or the like, a person’s life has permanently ceased to be either agreeable or useful, the sufferer should be painlessly killed either by himself or by another. It can be classified based on the acts of induction as active and passive and based on the will of the patient as voluntary, involuntary, and non-voluntary euthanasia. Active euthanasia (positive euthanasia) : It is a positive merciful act, to end useless suffering or a meaningless existence. It is an act of commis­sion that is when a doctor takes steps to end patient’s life e.g., giving large doses of drugs or giving a lethal injection to hasten death. Passive euthanasia (negative euthanasia): It means discontinuing or not using extraordinary life sustaining measures to prolong life. I...

  The Moment of Death There is no difficulty in the diagnosis of somatic deaths. However, in some cases the heart sounds and breath sounds diminish greatly. Errors occur if proper clinical examination is not done or hurriedly done. The classical concept of so called tripod of life does not hold good now as lungs and heart could be maintained on artificial support system. The factor responsible for a fresh appraisal of moment of death is the growing practice of organ transplantation. A beating heart, which is the ideal specimen for trans­plan­tation cannot be taken out of an individual. If we were to apply to classical cri­teria because the heart is beating in the pros­pective donor, he is obviously not dead. On the contrary, if we wait for his heart to stop to resolve the ethical dilemma, the heart becomes useless for transplantation. Therefore, the people all over the world were trying to find out the legal definition of death.   Brain Death Philadelphia Protoc...

  Kidnapping means taking away a person against his/her will by force, threat, or deceit. Usually, the purpose of kidnapping is to get a ransom, or for some political or other purposes etc. Section 359 I.P.C. of the Indian Penal Code, Kidnapping is of two types: Kidnapping from India, Kidnapping from lawful guardianship. These two types are explained in Section 360 and 361, respectively. Section 360 I.P.C . Explains kidnapping from India. According to section 360, if any person takes a person beyond the limits of India against the consent of that person or against the consent of someone who is legally entitled to give consent on that person’s behalf, then the offence of kidnapping from India is committed. Section 361 I.P.C . Explains kidnapping from lawful guardianship. According to this section, if a person takes away or entices a minor (i.e., a boy under the age of 16 years and a girl under the age of 18 years) or a person of unsound mind, away from his/her lawful gu...

What is summon? Summon or subpoena- section 61 to 69 Cr.P.C. (sub- under, poena- penalty) The summons is delivered to the witness through a police officer, an officer from the court, or any other  person. Accor­ding to section 66 Cr.P.C. if the witness is a govern­ment servant the summons can be sent t the head of the office in duplicate and the head in turn serves it to the concerned person. After hearing from the witness if the court thinks that there was no proper reason for not attending the court, a boilable/non-boilable warrant may be issued to procure his attendance in the court. If a witness receives two summonses on the same date from the same type of court, he will attend the court from which he received the summon first and will inform the other court. If he receives two summonses, one from Criminal Court and the other from Civil Court, he will attend the criminal court first with intimation to the Civil Court because Criminal Courts have priority over Civil Courts a...

The structure of courts in India   Courts- criminal courts in India                                              Supreme Court of India: Highest judicial tribunal in the country. It is the court of record and can punish for its contempt. High Court: Highest court in State. The Chief Justice of the High Court is appointed by The President of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the State. Session Court: At every district headquarters for that district. The death sentences passed by such courts need to be confimed by the High Court.     Different types of Session Courts District Session Judge’s Court Additional District Session Judge’s Court Assistant District Se...

  National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2022 Registered Medical Practitioner: Registered Medical Practitioner” or “RMP” means a person whose name is either in the State Medical Register or the Indian Medical Register or the National Medical Register unless otherwise specified. Duties and responsibilities of the Registered Medical Practitioners: 1. At the time of making an application under the provisions of the NMC Act, it shall be deemed that the RMP has read and agreed to abide by these regulations. 2. Who are registered under NMC Act, 2019, can use Medical Doctor as a prefix before their names. 3. Every self-employed RMP shall display the unique registration ID assigned to her/him by Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) in his/her prescription, certificate, and money receipts given to patients. 4. Employed RMP shall get a seal made by the employer for displaying the unique registration number below t...