Ashwini KUMAR, Navdeep KAUR, Rajiv JOSHİ, Harvinder Singh CHHABRA

An unusual decapitation injury

Ninety-three years ago, the term “Isadora Duncan Syndrome” came to be associated with neck injuries due to the entanglement of a long scarf around the neck. Somewhere in time it became synonymous with “Long Scarf Syndrome” when more such accidental cases were reported, mainly because long scarves had become a fashion fad in the west in the early 1920s. In South Asia, however, a long scarf is rep- laced by a dupatta which is part of traditional attire. Many such cases have been reported, particularly when women are riding a rickshaw or a motorcycle. Driving without proper protection further increases the risk of injury. These accidents are largely preventable if proper attention is given to the causes leading to it. Among other fatal causes, death due to decapitation, especially related to traffic accidents, is very rarely found in the practice of forensic medicine. Decapitation or beheading is defined as the total separation of the head from rest of the body; such an injury is fatal. We hereby report a case of decapitation injury involving an adult female, age 65, who died instantly when her dupatta accidentally got entangled in the rear wheel of the motorcycle on which she was riding pillion. This rare, unusual case baffled both the police and the authors. A thorough examination, however, revealed the absence of sharp or sharp, heavy-force injuries.

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