Suicide note- A vital clue in forming opinion to cause of death

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Case Report

Author Details : Vikash Chandra, Mukul Sharma*, Manas R Sahu

Volume : 9, Issue : 2, Year : 2022

Article Page : 82-85

https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijfcm.2022.018

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Abstract

Suicide, is one of the most painful way of death and even more so painful for the near and dear ones. Suicide note if recovered is heart breaking, as it becomes the last and one way communication from the deceased to his family/ friends. In almost 95% of cases it is written in own handwriting and consisting of 10-15 sentences or small paragraph. While there have been studies related to this and was observed that number of words usually doesn’t make a difference between complete and half attempt suicide. To understand a suicide note, Relevance theory was proposed which is based on a principle that "every utterance conveys the information that it is relevant enough for it to be worth the addressee's effort to process it". The note which was recovered from the deceased`s pocket and whereby mentioning that “life had become painful and stuck in a situation from where he couldn’t get out”, clearly conveys about the stress and problems in his life, though did not mention clearly or any specifics. A study conducted in USA regarding the words used in suicide notes and observed that words referencing to inclusive space like “with” or “include” are not usually used which is similar to our case and it signifies isolation or lack of belongingness.

Keywords: ­ Suicide, Suicide note, Relevance theory, Lack of belongingness.

How to cite : Chandra V, Sharma M, Sahu M R, Suicide note- A vital clue in forming opinion to cause of death. Indian J Forensic Community Med 2022;9(2):82-85

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