Original article Electrocution deaths reported in South Delhi, India: A retrospective analysis of 16 years of data from 2002 to 2017 Chittaranjan Behera 1 , Asit Kumar Sikary 2 , Ravi Rautji 3 and Sudhir Kumar Gupta 1 Abstract This study is a retrospective analysis of 428 cases of electrocution deaths in the region of South Delhi, India, which were autopsied at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, during the 16-year period 2002–2017. The cases were analysed with regard to the age and sex of the victim, season of the year, site of the body, time of day, place of occurrence and presence of entry and exit wounds on the body. The cases represented approximately 1.8% of all autopsy cases during the period. The main findings of the study showed that the majority of cases involved adult males at home during the monsoon season, with a low-voltage electrical supply affecting the upper extremities. This study also confirms that not all cases of electrocution show electrocution marks. Comparison with an older study undertaken within the same population showed no difference in the pattern of cases, apart from a decreasing male-female ratio. Keywords Accidents, workplace accident, public unawareness, work safety, faulty equipment, self-repairing Introduction Studies on electrocution have been carried out throughout the world. These studies have indicated the importance of electricity, the morbidity and mor- tality risks associated with its use, low-voltage versus high-voltage electrocution, alternate current (AC) versus direct current (DC) electrocution and the acci- dental nature of injuries. 1–4 These studies have also identified that such accidents most commonly involve adult males. Electrocution occurs mostly in the mon- soon or summer seasons while people are working with electrical equipment, 1–4 and the incidents are accidental in nature. 1–5 A few studies suggest that workplace acci- dents are more common, 1,2,6 while others suggest that accidents mainly take place at home. 4 The potential underlying reasons can include a lack of public aware- ness, carelessness and improper maintenance of electri- cal equipment. As such, these deaths are often preventable. 3,7 Some studies have found a declining rate of mortality because of the increased use of safety mechanisms by manufacturers and increased awareness among the public. 8 The electrocution rate in India for the year 2001 was five per million population, while for the year 2015, it was eight per million population. 9 Data on electrocu- tion in Delhi are not routinely provided. However, studies on electrocution in a South Delhi centre during the period 1996 to 2001 found that 1.93% of total autopsies were identified as electrocution deaths. 4 This study is a continuation of a previous study 4 done at the same centre among the same population. It also compares the findings of the present study with the previous study to establish any changes in the pat- tern of these deaths over the years. Methods This study was a retrospective analysis of electrocution death cases for the period 2002–2017. The previous 1 Department of Forensic Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, ESIC Medical College, India 3 Department of Forensic Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, India Corresponding author: Asit Kumar Sikary, Department of Forensic Medicine, ESIC Medical College, Faridabad, India, 121001. Email: bad.snmc@gmail.com Medicine, Science and the Law 0(0) 1–7 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0025802419860288 journals.sagepub.com/home/msl