1. Pallavi Choudhary 1, Kanak Lata Verma 2, Madhulika Sharma 3, R.K.Sarin 4, Adarsh Kumar 5 1,5 Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 2,3,4 Forensic Science Laboratory, Govt of NCT, New Delhi, India 1 pallavi.choudhary23@gmail.com, 2 kanak.nth@gmail.com, 5 dradarshk@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE From Blood 11 50gm of macerated viscera treated with 10 gm of Anhydrous Ammonium sulphate and 10 ml of conc. Acetic acid, → subjected to digestion on a water bath for 3 hours at 100 0 C CASE HISTORY From Viscera 11 Dowry death is one of the most horrible and dreadful form of violence and a reason for suicidal and homicidal deaths of women in India 1. The issue of dowry is probably the most common source of domestic violence in India 2 Domestic violence in India is an economically motivated crime which escalate to murders or suicides 3. Dowry i.e demand of money in any form by in-laws from bridegroom side at the time of solemnization of marriage is a social menace if the same is not met with. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures state that 8,083 dowry deaths were reported in 2013 from various states. The statistics work out to one death per hour 4. Bloch and Rao have developed a framework in which marital violence is positively associated with dowry transfers 5. Poisoning by common household agents like pyrethroids, rodenticides, carbamates, phenyl, detergents, corrosive etc. are frequently used in suicidal deaths 6. However the commonest method for committing suicide is hanging in India. Phenolic compounds are used as disinfectant, wood preservative and as a photographic developer 7. 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol is a chlorinated phenolic compound which is used primarily in various pesticide formulations as a wood preservative, fungicide, insecticide, herbicide, and anti-mildew agent for textiles, disinfectant, as sanitizer 8,9. The fatal phenol poisoning case is reported rarely 10. A young 28 year old married woman having two kids was brought dead in a hospital by her father and father -in -law with alleged history of intake of phenyl. Case was registered under 304-B IPC after magistrate inquest as the deceased had died within 7 years of her marriage. There was allegation of regular demand of money from her parents by her in-laws. However their demand was unable to be fulfilled as the deceased belonged to lower middle class family. At postmortem examination 200 ml of blackish brown fluid was found in stomach. Patchy hemorrhages were found on mucosa of stomach. A 500ml bottle of phenyl having pasty material sticking inside was collected by the Investigating officer from the spot. Preserved viscera (Stomach, piece of Intestine, Liver, Kidney and Spleen) and bottle of phenyl were sent for Toxicological Examination to Chemistry Division of the Forensic Science Laboratory (GNCT of Delhi) Rohini, Delhi, India. 20 mg of Sodium tungstate and 1ml of conc H 2 SO 4 was added to 1 ml of blood and mixed thoroughly and heated at 60 0 C Filtrate was further subjected to liquid-liquid alkaline, acidic and neutral ether extraction. Organic layer was screened by using TLC, FTIR and GC-MS B. Distillation Procedure 11 Oily droplets were observed with distinct odor of phenolic compound in distillate 5 gm of viscera was taken in conical flask 5ml of dilute HCl was added into it and set over the distillation apparatus Distillate was collected in10 mL of 1N sod.hydroxide solution in volumetric flask in ice cooled condition. The distillate was analyzed by chemical test for detection of Phenolic compounds Distillate of viscera and a blood and extract from empty bottle were subjected to chemical test for preliminary examination of Phenolic compounds. C. Chemical Tests 11 Lieberman’s reagent gives green-blue color reaction with the distillate. Droplets were dissolved in dichloromethane with small amount of Pyridine. Phenols form a violet complex with Fe (III). Since both preliminary color tests were positive, we proceeded for confirmatory test of the target poison through other complimentary techniques like TLC, FTIR and GC-MS. D. Instrumentation RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 304-B IPC (Indian Penal Code): Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called "dowry death", and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death. Inquest in Dowry Death is to be done by magistrate & not by police. Also autopsy is done by a board of doctors and not by single doctor. The tests were negative for all the exhibits when screened for drugs and pesticides by TLC. The FTIR Spectra of the distillates of the exhibits and working standard were studied and the interpretations of the results confirmed the presence of 2, 4, 6, Trichlorophenol (Fig.1 & Fig.2) Fig.1 FTIR Spectra of the working standard (WS) of (Phenyl) purchased from the local market Fig.2 FTIR spectra of exhibit (Visceral tissues) Further presence of 2, 4, 6, Trichlorophenol was confirmed by way of comparison of both Rt 4.1 min (Fig.3).& 4.2 min and matching with MS fragmentation. The principle peak at m/z was 62, 97,132 and 196 corresponding to that of our target molecule i.e 2, 4, 6, Trichlorophenol. (Fig. 4 & Fig.5 ). Fig.3. Chromatogram of the exhibit (visceral tissues) obtain by Gas Chromatography Fig.4 Mass Spectrum of exhibits (visceral tissues) Fig.5 Mass Spectrum of exhibits (Pasty Material in the Bottle) The husband’s unstable earning capacity might have led to the motive of extorting money from the wife’s parents. Unfortunately the hapless women may not have been able to bear the immense mental torture and ultimately committed suicide thus the demon of dowry claimed one more precious innocent life. CONCLUSION The authors detected the presence of 2,4,6 Trichlorophenol by versatile and reliable techniques like FTIR and GC-MS and various chemical tests without any complex sample clean-up steps. These analytical techniques are suitable for the rapid detection of such chemical species in whole blood and postmortem specimens which include visceral tissue. The detection of 2,4,6 Trichlorophenol in the extract of bottle of phenyl recovered from crime scene corroborates the findings and is in line with the detection of the chemical poison in the biological specimens confirming the fact that the case is indeed that of poisoning due to ingestion of a phenyl based common household disinfectant. REFERENCES 1.Radhika R.H, Ananda K. An Autopsy study of Socio-Etiological Aspects in Dowry death cases. J.Indian Acad Forensic Med, 2011;33(3):224-227. 2.Waghamode R.H., Desai B and Kalyan J.L. Domestic Violence against Women: An Analysis. International Research Journal of Social Sciences,2013; 2(1):34-37. 3.Crime in India, Statistics 2013.National Crime Records Bureau. Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi. 4.Bloch F and Rao V. Terror as a bargaining instrument: A case study of dowry violence in rural India." American Economic Review, 2002;92 (4):1029-1043. 5.Panda P and Agarwal B. \Marital violence, human development and women's property status in India," World Development.2005;33 (5): 823-850. 6.Srivastava A, Peshin S.S, Kaleekal T, Gupta S.K. An epidemiological study of poisoning cases reported to the National Poisons Information center, All India, Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Human Exp Toxicol,2005;24(6):279-285. 7.Ellenhorn M. J., Barcelox D.G. Medical Toxicology, Diagnosis and treatment of human poisoning. Part-IV- page 951,Elsevier Science Publishing Company,1988. 8.IARC1979,HSDB2009http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/twelfth/profiles/Trichlorophenol.pdf. accessed on 20/05/2015. 9.Drinking water and health: disinfectants and disinfectant by products; volume-7 by Safe drinking water committee, Commission on life science, Division on earth and life studies, National Research council. page no.-170. 10.Soares E.R., Tift J.P. Phenol poisoning-three fatal cases. J.Forensic Science,1982;27:727-731. 11.Laboratory Procedure Manual, Forensic Toxicology; Directorate of Forensic Science, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, New Delhi. In current socio-economic lifestyle harassments and deaths related to dowry are increasing day by day. Crimes committed against women viz- domestic violence, rape, female infanticide and homicide are closely interlinked with dowry 1. In this case the rationale behind the marriage incompatibility may be related to their educational background where wife was more educated than her husband which might have led to the development of inferiority complex in the husband. A. Extraction Liebermann’s test Ferric Chloride Test