Abstract

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on all cases of deaths due to hanging autopsied at the mortuary of Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni, a rural region in Western Maharashtra, India. The study was conducted over a period of 4 years, two years retrospective (record based) from September 2012 to August 2014 and two years prospective from September 2014 to August 2016. Data was being collected from medico-legal autopsy records of hanging victims. The cases were studied to know the socio-demographic profile of the victims. The cases represented approximately 3.73% of all autopsy cases. Majority of the victims were male (83.67%) belonging to the age group of 21-30 years (57.14%). Most of the victims (46.94%) were laborers by occupation. The most common motive behind suicidal hanging was financial crisis (34.69%) followed by family problems (16.33%). To reduce the rate of suicides, awareness has to be created by appropriate education and by influencing the media in their portrayal of suicidal news. Counselling centers should also be established in rural areas to help the victims.

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