J Punjab Acad Forensic Med Toxicol 2012;12(2)

Case Report
JUDICIAL HANGING-CAUSE OF DEATH
Dr Mrinal Kanti Jha, Asst Prof, KPC Medical College. Jadavpur, Kolkatra 700032
Prof. Bhupal Chandra Majumder, HOD, KPC Medical College. Jadavpur, Kolkatra 700032
Dr Anil Garg, Associate Prof. Forensic Medicine, Gian Sagar Medical College, Rajpura, District Patiala,
Punjab, India
Dr. K K Agarwal, Professor, *
Dr. S S Oberoi, Professor, *
* Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Govt. Medical College, Patiala, Punjab, India
Article history

Received Oct 20, 2012

Recd. in revised form Dec 14, 2012
Accepted on Dec 14, 2012
Available online Dec 25, 2012
Corresponding author
Dr.MK Jha
Phone: +918296277227

Email: mjha6119@yahoo.co.in

Abstract

The World is divided on the issue of Capital punishment.

Many western countries have abolished death as a judicial
punishment, with the argument; eye for an eye is barbaric. India
however has death penalty, by hanging in statute. It is awarded in
rarest of the rare cases. It seems death penalty is there to stay in
Indian statute. On the cause of death in cases of judicial hanging
the popular book teaching is- facture of second and third or third
and fourth cervical vertebra is responsible for quick and painless
death. Studies carried out on later dates on the body of victims of
judicial hanging showed otherwise.

Keywords: Judicial hanging, Capital punishment. Complete hanging

Introduction
However barbaric may be the action of
hanging be, it is still in vogue in many parts of the
world, including India. It is often supported by the
fact that as the least painful form of death, which
can be offered to a criminal who has caused so
much misery and suffering to his fellow human
being. Also it is awarded to the rarest of rare
category of cases. It is for the parliament to decide
whether or not to abolish capital punishment [1].
With public opinion becoming stringer and
stronger, against this sentence, Judges deliver
death sentence only when no alternative is
present, and probably they will continue to do so
as long as the death sentence is in statute.
It is interesting to note the comments of Ex-Chief
justice of India Mr K Sabharwal, The debate about
death penalty is growing on world over. In Europe
there is no death penalty, but it is there in America.
The President of India is against it. I am personally
against it. In Government there are many who
support it. There are two views. Opinion is equally
divided, but death penalty will be given as long as
it is in the law[1].
This is reconfirmed by the fact- Supreme Court
confirms death for Kasab, says he deserves nothing
less for 26/11 [2].
Case report
The judicial hanging in India was also carried out
in Kolkata, in Alipur Central Jail. Dhananjoy
Chatterjee, 43, was put to death on August
14,2004, for the rape and murder of 14-year-old
student Hetal Parekh in 1990, despite doubts

2012 JPAFMAT. All rights reserved

about his conviction, Chatterjee is only the 55th

person to be executed since Indian independence
in 1947 [3].
On pre-dawn of December 30, 2006, the former
President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein stood calmly at
the gallows, a thick yellow noose around the neck,
ready to be hanged. The executioners, men in black
ski masks and leather jackets, stood behind him.
Saddams hanging was telecasted; ironically it was
Saddam Hussein who had first order the
telecasting in the history of electronic media, the
gruesome act of execution both by firing squad and
hanging, to terrorize the Iraqi population against
any upsurge. Sami al-Askari a prominent politician
close to Prime Minister who witnessed the event
told Reuters Saddams execution took 25 minutes
but once he was dropped through the trap door his
death was very quick One of the guards pulled a
lever and he was dropped one and half a meter
into trap door. We heard his neck snap instantly.
They left him hanging for ten minutes before a
doctor confirmed his death and placed him in a
white bag [4].
It is alleged the former President of Pakistan Mr
Jhulphikar Ali Bhutta when resisted to move to the
gallows for executing of death sentence was fatally
injured and killed. His dead body was then dragged
to the gallows and hanged.
Discussion
Hanging is a form of violent asphyxial death in
which the body is suspended with ligature around
the neck, which causes constriction of the air
passage preventing exchange of air between the

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J Punjab Acad Forensic Med Toxicol 2012;12(2)

atmosphere and the alveoli of lungs leading to

asphyxia and death. The constriction force being
the weight of the whole body or the weight of the
head alone [5].
In case of judicial hanging, the weight of the body
acts as constriction force. The cause of death in
judicial hanging is controversial and often
attributed to 'hangman's fracture' of the second
cervical vertebra [6].
A rope is looped round the neck with sufficient
length of the rope to allow a drop of five to seven
feet or more according to weight, age, and built of
the person so as to cause fracture of cervical
column but not decapitation. When the lever is
brought into action, the person drops to the length
of the rope. The sudden drop of the moving body
associated with the position of the knot causes
facture dislocation of the cervical column at the
level of second and third or third and fourth
cervical vertebra. Upper part of cervical cord is
stretched or torn. ..The Pons and medulla may be
injured. Death is instantaneous due to damage to
spinal cord or brain stem though heart may
continue to beat for 15 to 20 minutes and muscle
jerking may occur for quite some time. [7]
Judicial hanging is believed as painless and
instantaneous death for centuries. It stems from
the history of hanging. There are four ways of
performing a judicial hanging.
suspension hanging,
the short drop,
the standard drop, and
the long drop.
The standard drop, which arrived as calculated in
English units, involves a drop of between 4 and 6
feet (1.2 and 1.8 m) and came into use from 1866,
when the scientific details were published by an
Irish doctor, Samuel Haughton. Immediately its use
spread to English-speaking countries and those
where judicial systems had an English origin. It
was considered a humane improvement on the
short drop because it was intended to be enough to
break the person's neck, causing immediate
paralysis and immobilization (and probable
immediate unconsciousness). This method was
used to execute condemned Nazis [8).
Cause of death in judicial hanging: a review and
case study.
1) Research has shown that such fractures
are the exception in judicial hangings and
the cause of death can be attributed to a
range of head and neck injuries,
particularly compression or rupture of the
vertebral and carotid arteries leading to

cerebral ischemia. The skeletal remains of

Mr. George Kelly, wrongfully hanged for
murder at Walton prison, Liverpool
(1950) were exhumed, examined and are
reported on herein. The first cervical
vertebra was found to be fractured but no
'hangman's fracture' of the axis--second
cervical vertebra was present. The
hangman (Mr. Albert Pierrepoint) has
been quoted as stating that the hanging of
Mr Kelly took longer than it should
have'(Dernley and Newman, 1989) but no
skeletal evidence of death by strangulation
was
found
by
the
authors.
Unconsciousness, if not death, would
probably have been rapid due to vertebral
artery damage as a result of the observed
neck fracture, although this cannot be
concluded with absolute certainty. [6]
2) Judicial
hanging:
postmortem
radiographic, CT, and MR imaging features
with autopsy confirmation. Purpose: To
assess postmortem radiologic and
pathologic findings by using modern
imaging and autopsy techniques in two
recent cases of judicial hangings.
Conclusions
The extent and distribution of injuries
differed markedly in the two cases. The first case
involved loss of consciousness probably from
subarachnoid hemorrhage or cerebral hypoxia,
followed by death due to cerebral anoxia. The
second case involved a major spinal cord injury
with subarachnoid hemorrhage[9].
Conclusion
Both the studies in which three cases were studied
indicates that the death in none of the cases were
not due to cervical vertebra fracture at the level of
second and third or third and fourth as is
commonly believed and is endorsed in Text Books.
The causes of death were due to other reasons as is
commonly encountered in cases of hanging. It is
not difficult to explain as to why the old century
old explanation on mode of death due to judicial
hanging still holds good even today. It is because
there are not many judicial hanging being carried
out in contemporary period and even if carried due
to legal and humanitarian grounds it becomes
difficult to carry out study.
Conflict of Interest

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J Punjab Acad Forensic Med Toxicol 2012;12(2)

None Declared
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This article can be cited as:

Jha MK, Majumder BC, Garg A, Aggarwal KK, Oberoi SS. Judicial hanging-cause of death. J Punjab Acad
Forensic Med Toxicol 2012;12(2):96-8.

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