The Corpse Is a Silent Witness Who Never Lies—A Case Report

Abstract

There are two very common sayings about corpse (dead body). The first common saying is that “the corpse is a silent witness who never lies” and the other common saying is that “the dead body is extremely eloquent and honestly informative, if one exercises patience in listening to it.” Both these sayings were proved in one of our cases. In the present case, decomposed body of an unidentified female individual aged about 25 - 26 years was recovered from the bank of western Yamuna canal in Haryana. The police made the efforts for establishing the identity of the deceased but could not succeed. The body was forwarded to the district hospital for autopsy along with the inquest report. However, the body being in advanced stage of decomposition so it was referred from the district hospital to the department of Forensic Medicine, PGIMS, Rohtak (Haryana) for the examination and the expert opinion regarding the cause of death. The findings observed on examination of the body helped to deduce the cause, time and manner of death whereas certain important objective features of identification were also observed and ultimately proper identity of the deceased could be established beyond the reasonable doubt by DNA profile of the samples preserved at autopsy. The autopsy findings, DNA profile and the results of examination of other materials (exhibits) taken from the body not only revealed the truth from the silent witness—the corpse, but also provided objective and scientific evidence to establish the corpus delicti in this case.