International Journal of Forensic Science & Pathology, 2014 © 50 Charan K Shetty (2014) Suicide Cases in Manipal, South India: An Autopsy Study. Int J Forensic Sci Pathol. 2(7), 50-56. International Journal of Forensic Science & Pathology (IJFP) ISSN 2332-287X Suicide Cases in Manipal, South India: An Autopsy Study Review Article Charan K Shetty Medical Lecturer, Department of Forensic Medicine , Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Unisza), Kampus Kota, Jalan sultan mahmud, Kuala Terengganu, 21300 Terengganu, Malaysia. *Corresponding Author: Charan K Shetty. Medical Lecturer, Department of Forensic Medicine , Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Unisza),Kampus Kota, Jalan sultan mahmud, Kuala Terengganu, 21300 Terengganu, Malaysia. E-mail:shettykishor.k@rediffmail.com Recieved: July 21, 2014 Accepted: August 13, 2014 Published: August 19, 2014 Citation: Charan K Shetty (2014) Suicide Cases in Manipal, South India: An Autopsy Study. Int J Forensic Sci Pathol. 2(7), 50-56. doi: http:// dx.doi.org/10.19070/2332-287X-1400015 Copyright: Charan K Shetty © 2014. This is an open-access article dis- tributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any me- dium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Suicide is a complex phenomenon associated with psychological, biological and social factors involving by and large every corner of the world. It is distinctively a human affair and continues to be a major public health issue. It has always attracted the attention of not only the medical fraternity but also of the philosophers and theologians.[1,2]. According to Durham, the French biologist, suicide is “death re- sulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result”. Suicide from an existential point of view refects a behaviour that seeks and fnds the solution to an existential problem by making an attempt on life of the subject. Suicide is applicable to all acts ter- minating fatally.[1,2,3] In India the National crime research Bureau (NCRB), 2010, in their annual report on Incidence and Rate of Suicides during the Decade (2000-2010) have reported that, more than one lakh per- sons (1,34,599) in the country lost their lives by committing sui- cide during the year 2010.[5] Suicide is one of the forms of criminal offence in our country. Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fne or with both under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code.[6] Suicide is a long and multifactorial process and is never a con- sequence of a single cause or stressor. A host of biological and psychosocial components interplay in a suicide investigation. Pre- cipitating factors may include domestic quarrels, loss of employ- ment, fnancial diffculties, substance abuse, chronic disease, or mental illness.[2] The view that suicide cannot be prevented is commonly held even among health professionals. Many beliefs may explain this nega- tive attitude. Chief among these is that suicide is a personal matter that should be left for the individual to decide. Another belief is that suicide cannot be prevented because its major determinants are social and environmental factors such as unemployment over which an individual has relatively little control. However, for the overwhelming majority who engage in suicidal behaviour, there is a probably an appropriate alternative resolution of the precipitat- ing problems. Suicide is often a permanent solution to a tempo- rary problem.[5,6] Considering these facts, and keeping in view the magnitude of this problem and absence of any recent data, an attempt has been made in the present study to make a complete and thorough analysis of suicides in terms of various epidemiological features, Abstract Suicide constitutes a major public health problem. It is a manifestation of self-destructive behavior that results from a crisis situation often not suffciently recognized by relatives and friends or by the medical profession. The present study sample consisted of 656 cases of suicide out of the 3571 total autopsy cases done in the department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka. The present study shows that the people of all age groups were involved. The highest incidence was amongst the 21–30 years (35.06 %). Male victims predominated. Present study predicts marriage as being one of the important risk factors for suicide. Most of the victims belonged to the Hindu religion (86.4 %). When we look at the pres- ence of any past illness, 174 cases (26.5%) were having some form of chronic physical and mental disorders at the time of commit- ting suicides. Although seasonal variation is not much, however the present study reveals highest number of cases in summer season (36.1%). Despair with life was the most common motive for suicide. 74.4 % of the total victims in the present study used chemicals for terminating their lives and only 26.8 % of the study group used physical methods for committing suicide. Amongst those who opted for physical methods, hanging was the most common (15.6 %). Among the poisoning cases, organ phosphorus poisoning (51 %) was the most commonly used method for suicide. Keywords: Autopsy, Suicide, Methods, Poisoning, Hanging