Medico-Legal Autopsy
Definition
A court-mandated post-mortem examination performed on a body whose death is unnatural, suspicious or unexplained, conducted on requisition from the investigating officer under BNSS Section 194 read with Section 196.
- Trigger
- Unnatural, suspicious, or unexplained death
- Governing law
- BNSS Section 194 read with Section 196
- Authorised by
- Requisition from the investigating officer
- Jurisdiction
- India
Common questions
Who decides whether a death requires a medico-legal autopsy in India?+
The investigating police officer forms the initial view based on the circumstances of death and issues the requisition, though the examining doctor and, in disputed cases, the magistrate can also weigh in on whether the case meets the unnatural or suspicious threshold.
How does a medico-legal autopsy differ from a clinical or pathological autopsy?+
A clinical autopsy is performed with family consent to understand a natural disease process, while a medico-legal autopsy is mandated by law without requiring family consent, because its purpose is to generate evidence for a potential criminal or inquest proceeding.
Related terms
- Clinical (Academic) Autopsy
- A post-mortem performed in a hospital to confirm clinical diagnosis or for teaching, with the consent of the next of kin. Not...
- Exhumation Autopsy
- Disinterment and post-mortem of a previously buried body, ordered by the Executive Magistrate under BNSS Section 196(4).
- Provisional Opinion
- The on-the-day cause-of-death statement issued before viscera analysis. Replaced by the final report once the chemical analyst's report comes back.
- Virtopsy (Virtual Autopsy)
- Non-destructive post-mortem imaging using CT and MRI. Pilot programmes exist at NFSU and AIIMS; not yet a replacement for conventional autopsy in...
- Viscera
- The standard set of organs and fluids collected at a suspected poisoning autopsy in India: stomach with contents, a length of upper...