Wednesday, November 30, 2016 - 01:00
TITLE: STUDENT’S GUIDE TO
FORENSIC SKELETAL ANYYSIS
AUTHOR: PROF. MUDITHA
VIDANAPATHIRANA
PUBLISHER: SARASAVI
PUBLISHERS 2015
Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana’s maiden English
book entitled : Student’s Guide to Forensic Skeletal Analysis published by the
Sarasavi Publisher’s was released recently. This book is peer-reviewed by Dr.
P. R. Ruwanpura Consultant Judicial Medical Officer of the Karapitiya teaching
hospital Galle.
In his preface Dr. Vidanapathirana states thus :
“Teaching of medico-legal aspects of skeletal
remains for the undergraduate and postgraduate medical students for the last
many years influenced me to write this book. The training on Forensic
Anthropology received during my undergraduate and postgraduate training
programs on continuous professional development and the special training
received on Forensic Anthropology at the St. Gorge’s Hospital, London were
helpful to produce this book. I believe that this book will be useful not only
to undergraduate medical students but also to lawyers, criminologists, police
officers, inquirers in to sudden deaths etc.”
Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana is a Senior
Lecturer attached to the Dept of Forensic Medicine, in the faculty of medical
sciences of the University of Sri Jayawardanapura. Dr. Vidanapathirana’s years
of experiences in teaching and his forensic expertise has made him eminently
qualified to compile this student guide.
Student’s guide to Forensic Analysis runs into
99 pages with eight chapters. First chapter has dealt with ‘Bio-mechanics of
Injury Production’ per se it appears a novel concept for the guide of a
student. The second chapter dealt with ‘Description of specimens of skull
injuries’ where he provides eight such descriptions of specimens. The third
chapter is titled : ‘Blunt Force Trauma to Head spans to 14 pages with four
sub-titles. The fourth chapter has dealt on ‘Sharp Force Injuries’. The fifth
chapter is titled : ‘Injuries due to Firearms.’ The sixth chapter is overall
the shortest in the book reads : ‘Late Deaths Following Head Injuries’. The
seventh chapter has dealt on : ‘Long Bone Fractures’. The eighth on : ‘Cervical
Injuries’, the ninth chapter the longest : ‘Identification of skull, pelvis and
long bones’ with eight sub-headings.
Once I perused at the first and second out
titles of this chapter ‘Are they bones ? and ‘Are they Human Bones?’ What
whetted my curiosity was A.C. Alles’s ‘Famous Criminal cases of Sri Lanka’
volume 5 Alfred De Zoysa and the Kalattawa Murderers trial where Queen’s
Counsel G. G. Ponnambalam unsuccessfully argued the bones found were not of
human. If the bones are of Archaeological value it would rank in the
discoveries like famed Balangoda Manavaya, Pahiyangala Manawaya and Batadombalena
Manawaya. The fifth heading : ‘Identification by examination of the skull’ it
aroused my interest as our national hero Monarawila Keppetipola Nilame’s
cranium with the advent of freedom that was sent to our country – which was
reposed at the Royal Prenological Society was buried in a glass box in front of
the Tooth Relic of Buddha – Dalada Maligawa – with the marked place erected
with a monument. Dr. John Davy in his ‘Account of the Interior of Ceylon’
published in 1821 contains two photographs of this cranium. Alas! Sri Lanka is
devoid of the forensic pathologists analysis of this cranium – a national
treasure. When this reviewer roves his mind through the pages on teeth a vow it
was undoubtedly forensic dentistry that revealed the death of the mass murderer
Adolph Hitler where his traces were not kept to see the light of the day !
The 76th page of the book contains a photograph
where Dr. Vidanapathirana refrains commenting about the identification
superimposition. The photograph depicted is of Adeline Vitharana’s (facing page
110) which is also found in Famous Criminal Cases volume 7 of A.C. Alles’s.
This case was a cause célèbre in the annals of crime in Sri Lanka. Neil
Wijayasinghe translated this volume in to Sinhalese as “Wilpattu Sihiwatanaya”.
Then Wasantha Obeysekera made an award winning movie based on the story as
“Dadayama”. Thereafter Justice Alles sued Wasantha Obeysekera the Director of
the said film for violating the copyright of his book and lost the suit. Where
at the SC Justice C. V. Wigneshwaran delivered the landmark judgement famed
novelist Newton Goonesinghe wrote ‘Dadakeliya’ published by Dayawansha Jayakody
where Adeline Vitharana’s daughter sued the novelist and lost the District
Court battle.
Pages 76 and 77 has dealt on the ‘References’ A
careful perusal by any reader would find that most of the references are from
1970’s to 2009 that all text dealt are of recent ones. That is : Mostly Murder,
Forensic Medicine by Sir Sydney Smith, 40 years of Murder, Doctor’s Guide to
Court and Forensic Medicine by Prof. Keith Simpson were by-gone pioneering
works.
But the only lapse this reviewer would see is
that ‘glossary of medical terms’ which would have serve the wide array of
readership : That is legal practitioner’s, criminologists, forensic students,
police officers and inquirer’s of sudden deaths alike.
Students of Sri Lanka are short of guide book to
guide themselves in the subject of Medico Legal aspects. Prof. Muditha
Vidanapathirana has trail the blaze in compiling an invaluable student guide in
this aspect. The only guide book that was available to the students of law were
‘Researcher’s guide book for the Laws of Ceylon’ by Barry Metzger 1971 which is
considered as a long – outdated book today. Dr. Mudith Vidanapathirana deserves
all praise for his conscientious scholarly efforts in compiling this opus in a
‘nutshell’ form.
Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana’s ‘Student guide
to Forensic Skeletal Analysis’ fills a void of a student’s guide’s that
hitherto existed. Undoubtedly this guide book would serve as a vade mecum for
all these wide array of the readership.
- Hemantha Situge
