Indian Journal of Law and Human Behavior

The administration of justice system in criminal law needs to be evaluated as a whole and not its components separately, any act or omission punishable by any existing law is called offence. Offences with element of force or moral turpitude are generally termed as crimes. Crime puts life, liberty, dignity and property of the people in danger and creates law and order problems. The law and order problem may spread its wings to disturb public peace and bring normal civic life to a grinding halt. This may, sometimes, pose a threat even to national security. Thus, crime is not just a concern of the victim or the criminal justice authorities; the hidden potential in it may harm the whole society or even the nation. In other words, crime undermines the ‘rule of law’ and thus digs out the very root of democracy as in most of the democratic countries, crimes are considered as injuries to the State.

Keywords: Criminal law; Punishable; Democracy

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth can affect the mental health of women adversely in a variety of ways. Maternal prenatal anxiety has been associated with adverse outcomes during the pregnancy. This may further predispose to postpartum depression. Aim: To assess the prevalence of anxiety during pregnancy and its impact on postnatal depression with its association of certain obstetric risk factors in pregnant women attending tertiary care hospital in Pondicherry. Method: It was a hospital based analytical cross-sectional study where third trimester pregnant mothers (n=273) attending the antenatal service were included for the study purpose after consent. Data were collected using socio-demographic and clinical data proforma, Hamilton anxiety scale (HAM-A), Edinburgh postnatal depression rating scale (EPDS) and Hamilton depression scale (HAM-D). Epi-info and SPSS software were used for data entry. Chi-square test were used to find out association. Results: 71(26%) Pregnant mothers were found to have anxiety. The risk factors, that were significantly associated were gender preference, levels of daily hassles, marital conflicts, adverse life events, previous abortion. Among the 71 pregnant mothers, 30(42.2%) showed symptoms of depression and found 26.7%(mild), 6.7%(moderate) and 13.3%(Severe) depressive disorder patients. The risk factors that were significantly associated were family pressure for male child and problem with in laws. Conclusion: Regular maternal health care check-up for the early diagnosis and treatment of anxiety and to prevent the postpartum depression and its associated complications.

Keyword: Anxiety; Postpartum depression; Pregnancy; Risk factors.

Background: Alcohol can have adverse effects not only on the individual’s physical and mental health but also social wellbeing. Many studies on problems in people consuming alcohol have been done, but only few studies have been done with regard to the impact on spouses. Objectives: To study the socio-demographic factors and psychological impact of spouse of patients with alcohol dependence syndrome and to study the psychological impact on spouse of alcoholic dependence patients with severity of alcohol use. Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry in a tertiary care centre in Puducherry of 18 months’ duration. 202 female spouses of alcohol dependent husbands were assessed using the tools HAM-D, HAM- A, PSS and AUDIT scale. All analysis was done using SPSS Software version 16, Chi-square and Pearson’s correlation coefficient test. Results: Majority of the study participants were 99(49%) were 35-44 years of age. 26(36.1%) subjects whose husbands scored high on audit and 46(47.4%) subjects whose husbands scored very high on Audit had severe to very severe depression. 26(78.8%) subjects whose husbands reported moderate scores on Audit had mild anxiety, while 43(44.3%) subjects reported very high scores on Audit had moderate to severe anxiety. 54 (55.7%) subjects whose husbands had very high Audit scores reported moderate levels of perceived stress. Conclusion: Significant association was found between spouse of alcoholics with features like depression, anxiety, and stress and the severity of alcohol use in the husband. Hence, the treatment should address the psychologicalproblems in spouse while treating the alcohol dependence in their husband to get a better outcome.

Keywords: Alcohol dependence; Psychological impact; Problem in spouse.