ligature has been used a mark will, save in very exceptional cases, be found on the neck.

 Crl. Appeal-Against Conviction-PPC

328-18

MUHAMMAD ABBAS VS THE STATE 17-02-2021

2021 LHC 770

Contradiction in medical evidence and ocular account makes the case of appellant as of acquittal

Lyon’s MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE FOR INDIA’ tenth edition at pages No.358 & 359

Mark or marks on the neck:

(1) Strangulation by ligature.—If a ligature has been used a mark will, save in very exceptional cases, be found on the neck. This usually, but not invariably, differs from a hanging mark, in being truly transverse in direction, low on the neck, and continuous, i.e. completely encircling the neck. In exceptional cases of strangulation, especially if the body has been dragged by the ligature, the mark may be found high on the neck, and oblique in direction, like a hanging mark. Again, in exceptional cases of hanging, the mark may be found low down on the neck, and, if the cord has been tightly applied, the mark left by it may be more or less transverse in direction, but unlike the mark of strangulation, the sides tend to run upwards to the mark of the knot which is on a higher level. The hard, brown, parch- mentised appearance of the skin in the course of the mark is more seldom met with. Whether the mark will be parchmentised or - not depends entirely on the nature of the ligature. If this is hard and rough such a mark will result. In strangulation, more frequently than in hanging, the ligature employed is a soft one, such as a handkerchief or other piece of cloth, this is the reason for the frequent absence of the parchmentised mark.

(2) Strangulation by manual pressure.— It is not uncommon in India, the victim usually being a child or a female.

The marks left on the throat in throttling are dark in colour and correspond to the shape of the fingers. If one hand only is used several bruises may be found on one side of the neck, and at a somewhat higher level on the other side a single bruise caused by the pressure of the thumb. If both hands are employed, as is very often the case, several marks will be seen on each side of the throat. These marks may or may not become parchmentised, according as the force used has or has not been sufficient to abrade the skin, which is seldom the case. Frequently in the young, and sometimes in others, the nails may cause the typical crescentic abrasions on the throat.