A demographical study of cases of hanging with respect to age, sex and occupational status of the victims in a rural region of central India

Hanging is a simple and an effective method to commit suicide in society. Hanging is the second or third most popular method of suicide. Hanging has been employed as the method of suicide since time immemorial. The present study is a cross sectional study conducted on the dead bodies of either sex brought for medico legal autopsy with the history of death due to hanging in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at a medical college in Central India from 1st August 2011 to 31st July 2017. The total numbers of hanging cases during the study period are 101. It was analyzed that hanging is more common in males (78.21%) than females (21.78%) with a male: female ratio of 3.59:1. According to occupational status, the most commonly involved victims were farmers (30.69%) followed by students (21.78%).