Title

Autopsy-based evaluation of skeletonised human remains: A long-term Indian study

Authors

Brinda Patel^1,*, Nidhi Sachdeva Agarwal¹ & Radhika Hande²

Affiliation

¹Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India; ²Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Government Medical College, Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Brinda Patel - E-mail: drbrinda07@gmail.com

Nidhi Sachdeva - E-mail: drnid2012@gmail.com

Radhika Hande - E-mail: radhahande@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received April 1, 2026; Revised April 30, 2026; Accepted April 30, 2026, Published April 30, 2026

Abstract

Skeletonized remains pose unique forensic identification challenges, particularly in resource-limited settings where concealment attempts complicate medicolegal investigation. This retrospective descriptive study analyzed 19 skeletonized autopsy cases, assessing gender/age via anthropological methods, PMI from decomposition stage, cause/manner of death from family/police/post-mortem records. Four cases (21%) revealed deliberate concealment through cremation/burial to evade detection, highlighting disposal challenges in Indian contexts. Conventional anthropological techniques proved feasible despite resource constraints, through PMI estimation remained imprecise without advanced tools. Thus, we document patterns of skeletonized cases in India, highlighting infrastructure gaps, documentation needs and the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to achieve optimal medicolegal outcomes.

Keywords

Forensic autopsy; homicide concealment; human remains; post-mortem interval (PMI); skeletonization

Citation

Patel et al. Bioinformation 22(4): 2365-2370 (2026)

Edited by

Vini Mehta

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.