Toxicology

Abstract

Law as an independent institution mainly consists of rules, statutes, presidents, etc. But sometimes, these aren’t enough to attain the ultimate purpose of having a living legal system, that is to provide justice. For this purpose, law collaborates with several other disciplines like social science, psychology, philosophy, biology, and chemistry. Toxicology, in its essence is a scientific discipline that deals mainly with chemistry, biology and medical science, which was introduced in the field of law by Mathieu Orfila in the Lafarge murder case in 1840, Tulle, France. Before toxicology was formally introduced, justice in cases of poisoning were solved mainly on qualitative and circumstantial evidence like, who was present, who had the motive, who had the knowledge? How did the poison get there and how did it come in contact to the victim? If the suspect pleads innocent and says that he is being framed who has the strongest motive to frame the suspect? Could it be possible that the case is simply non maintainable and the death was a complete accident or natural cause or mistake of the victim himself? Though none of these questions seem valid and legally material enough to solely determine a whole judgment, it was the best method in absence of any proper method of study of poisoning and hazardous substances. This is the gap that Toxicology was created to fill. The scale of this challenge remains considerable in India today. National Crime Records Bureau data for 2022 record that chemical poisoning accounted for roughly a quarter of all suicides reported nationally, underscoring why a scientifically reliable method of establishing the cause and circumstances of death continues to be indispensable to the administration of criminal justice.1 The following article seeks to study what toxicology is, what are the different sub-divisions of toxicology, and why they are necessary. We also try to enhance our understanding with the help of case laws and illustrations.