In India, Datura seeds are most frequently encountered in forensic practice as agents used criminally for which purpose?

• A Stupefying travellers and robbing them ✓
• B Causing slow homicidal poisoning over days
• C Inducing abortion in early pregnancy
• D Producing sedation for child theft

Explanation

Datura is the classical stupefying agent in Indian criminal practice: powdered seeds mixed into food or drink produce confusion, disorientation, dry mouth, and compliant amnesia, allowing robbery or sexual assault. Victims typically have no memory of events. It is rarely used for homicide because the toxidrome is obvious and usually survivable, and it has no established abortifacient role in forensic case series.

Reference: Modi's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, 23rd ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.