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Case Report

A case of battered wife
Ahmed KS1, Begum A2, Alamgir M3, Masud MAA4

Abstract
The use of corrective force against the wife is still rife in all cultures and even socially acceptable in some
culture. Domestic violence is still common in our society. We report a case of 20 years old woman who
admitted into OCC of DMCH through emergency department owing to be assaulted by her husband. This
case is exceptional one because the injuries inflicted upon her were over the middle of the forehead and
clean cut in nature, though non fatal. Awareness and education is needed to stop this social stigma. 

Key wards Battered wife, assault, injury.

Introduction:
Under section 17, the penal code of Bangladesh an
injury is defined as any harm caused illegally to a
person in his body, mind, reputation or property.
Whereas wound is defined as breach or break of con-
tinuity of skin and mucous membrane following
trauma or injury.

Assault is defined as any attempt or offer of threat to
the body of a person with an evil motive which may
cause physical injury or not and the actual applica-
tion of assault is known as battery1,2. Battered wife
simply means physical assault to a wife by her hus-
band. But Busutill defines a battered wife as a
woman who has suffered demonstrable and repeated
physical injuries at the hands of the man with whom
she lives or from the father of one of her children3.
The injuries are commonly multiple bruises on
exposed parts of the body specially face and arms. A
study where 100 battered wives were interviewed all
had bruising, often together with other injuries such
as lacerations and fractures4.    

Case report:
A 20 year old married woman brought to emergency
department of DMCH with the history of assault by
her husband and sent to OCC of the same hospital
(Ref: DMCH Reg. No.12803/32, dated 18.05.2008

& OCC Reg. No. 223/08 dated 18.05.2008) for tak-
ing appropriate measures. On local examination, two
parallel incised wounds were found over the middle
of the forehead measuring 11/2× ¼ inch and 1×¼
inch scalp depth respectively. The wounds were
stitched later on.

In studying this case the following points were con-
sidered - Determination of the nature of the weapon,
age of the injury, manner of the injury, fate of the
injury and legal aspects of the injury. The nature of
the injury inflicting weapon is determined by charac-
teristics of the wound. In this particular case the
injuries were sharp and clean cut, hence the
causative weapon seemed to be sharp cutting. It is
important to note that an injury over the forehead or
scalp is usually split type lacerate. In these area
bones are just below the skin and subcutaneous tis-
sue without any intervening muscle layer. Hence
impact of two hard objects defines the lacerated type
of injury. The split laceration is more or less similar
to incised wound when examined with naked eyes,
hence it is also called incised like wound or incised
looking wound. But on using magnifying glass the
margins and edges of split laceration are found
ragged and irregular. Whereas the margins of incised
wound are smooth, well defined, clean cut and regu-
lar5. So, this case is exceptional as the wounds were

Corresponds to: Dr. Khan Shakil Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Enam Medical
College, Savar, Dhaka.

1. Dr. Khan Shakil Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Enam Medical College,
Savar, Dhaka. 

2. Dr. Asma Begum, Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Ibn Sina Medical College,
Kallyanpur, Dhaka. 

3. Dr. Mithun Alamgir, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Enam Medical College,
Savar, Dhaka. 

4. Dr. Mohammad Abdullah Al Masud, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Enam Medical
College, Savar, Dhaka.

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 11 No. 03 July’12

231



caused by sharp cutting weapon, which found in a
very rare occasion. 

To determine the duration of any injury the gross
appearance of the injury is carefully looked at,
observe histochemical and histopathological
changes and enquiring the victim about the time of
the incidence. The age of the abrasion and bruise can
be calculated by observing the color changes of the
injury. Histochemical changes involve the study of
enzymes, ATPase amino peptidase and acid phos-
phatase etc in the wound region. The activity of
ATPase increases by one hour and amino peptidase
two hours respectively after injury.
Histopathological examinations look for cellular
infiltrations and collagen formation. Polymorph
leykocytes migration in the small blood vessels
occur from 30 minutes to 4 hours, leukocyte infiltra-
tion and appearance of mononuclear cells occur 4 to
12 hours, collagens begin to form in the capillaries
and giant cells may be visible from 3 to 6 days after
injury6. Scar formation is completed usually within
6 to 15 days after injury if not accompanied by infec-
tion. The age of the injury in this case was about two
and half days.

The manner of an injury often depicts whether it is
suicidal, homicidal or accidental. It is usually seen
that accused denies the charge of inflicting injuries
upon their wives and also tries narrate it as self
inflicted. There are number points to differentiate
self-inflected wounds from others. Fatality and com-
plications of any injury are also of considerations. In
our opinion the present case was not self-inflicted,
which, however, was non fatal and uncomplicated at
the end. In legal procedure the site of injury inflict-
ed is considered seriously.  Although the injury was
nonfatal and uncomplicated but left permanent dis-
figuration of head and face which fulfill the No 6 cri-
teria of grievous hurts.  Our opinion regarding this
case was that 'The injuries were caused by sharp cut-
ting weapon, the age of the injury was about two and
half days and the injuries were grievous in nature'.
Discussion: Women have accepted ill treatment at
the hands of men they live with since time immemo-
rial in this region. They are reluctant to bring to light
their personal problems for fear of shame, disgrace
and threat. A study on the silence of the victims of
battered wife indicated that unawareness of actual
victims stems from an incomplete understanding of

the reality of the "battered wife syndrome," lack of
knowledge about the various forms of abuse and the
silence of the victims themselves7. So, some prefer
just to leave home whilst others indulge in self
inflicting injury or attempt suicide by poisoning, self
immolation, hanging and using overdoses of sleep-
ing pills. The offence comes to light when the victim
requires hospital treatment or dies under suspicious
circumstances.

Wife battering is common in all socioeconomic
groups, however, mainly seen among the low
income group in this part of the world. The chief
offender is the man and mainly attributed to dowry.
Among other causes which results in thinning of
man involved are personality disorder, emotional
stress, indulgent into drinking and gambling and
instigation by family members. It was observed that
violent episodes in which the husband was drinking
included more frequent and severe act of household
violence8. Temporary lapse of sanity resulting in
homicide is an important factor when the man sus-
pects the fidelity of his wife and often results is
killing. . A visit to a doctor or hospital emergency
department for a trivial unexplained injury should
arouse examiner's suspicion of wife battering. When
a woman complains of unendurable behavior at the
hands of her husband and seeks help from a medical
practitioner he has an important role to play not only
in hospitals but also his private chamber and he must
include an assessment of injury to her health by
physical or other means in his/her report3.  it has
been shown that effective management of domestic
violence involves raising the victim's self-esteem so
that she is able to alter her situation herself9.

Conclusion:
Wife battering is not uncommon in our country. In
this case the victim is lucky that she escape from any
type of serious injury like intracranial hemorrhage
which may be fatal. So the assailant must be pun-
ished by the law in any circumstances, as it will be
an example and may prevent many of wife battering
incidences due to fear of punishment by the court of
law.

Acknowledgement: The authors gratefully acknowl-
edge the Institutional Ethical Committee of DMCH
to kindly provide the ethical approval for the publi-
cation of the case. 

A case of battered wife

232



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Ahmed KS, Begum A, Alamgir M, Masud MAA

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