Background: The Presence of defense wound and its conclusive interpretation would be helpful to judiciary to solve many of such cases as it suggests that the victim was conscious, at least partly mobile and not taken completely by surprise. Material & Method: The profile of defense injuries was studied amongst the 100 cases of homicidal deaths, autopsies of which were conducted at mortuary of Government Hospital, Rajkot in a period of one and half year.Results: Defense injuries were seen in 28% cases of total cases of suspected homicides. Maximum number (37.5%) of cases were belongs to age group 41-50 years. Majority were male victims. Amongst all cases, 46.4% had defense wounds over left half of the body, while it was bilateral in 32.2% cases. Only sharp objects were inflicted in 60.7% of cases, while 28.6% cases had defense injuries by blunt object. Majority of defense wounds were present over upper limbs (84.9%). 36.2% of all defense injuries were sustained over forearms, may be due to nearest to the perpetrator.

Key words: Defense injury; Homicidal deaths; Sharp weapon.