INICET FMT (Forensic Medicine) Previous Year Questions (2018–2026)

The correct answer is D. Motor vehicle accident.

Sparrow-foot marks (also called sparrow-foot lacerations) are multiple, small, bizarre punctate or L-shaped lacerations of the face seen in front-seat occupants of a vehicle. They are produced when shattered toughened windscreen glass strikes the face during a road traffic accident, and are a form of dicing injury. Classic trap: the look-alike is lightning, which produces Lichtenberg figures (arborescent, filigree, feathering or keraunographic marks). Those fern-like marks are pathognomonic of lightning but are NOT called sparrow-foot marks, so lightning is not the answer here.

Why the other options are incorrect:

• A. Electrocution: Produces Joule (endogenous) burns and electric marks at the contact points, not facial glass lacerations.
• B. Lightning injury: Produces Lichtenberg figures (arborescent, feathering marks), a fern-like pattern, not punctate facial lacerations. This is the intended trap.
• C. Custodial torture: Produces patterned inflicted injuries such as tramline contusions, not windscreen lacerations.

High-Yield Facts:

• Sparrow-foot marks are multiple punctate facial lacerations from shattered windscreen glass.
• They are a type of dicing injury and indicate a front-seat occupant in a road traffic accident.
• Lightning instead produces Lichtenberg figures (arborescent or filigree marks).
• Electrocution produces Joule burns at the contact points.

Option D (answer): shattered windscreen glass. When it strikes a front-seat occupant's face it produces the punctate sparrow-foot lacerations.

Option B (trap): a Lichtenberg figure, the arborescent feathering mark of lightning. This is NOT a sparrow-foot mark.

Option A: an electrical contact (Joule) burn, the typical mark of electrocution.

Summary: sparrow-foot marks (windscreen glass, RTA) versus the distractors, with the sparrow-foot vs Lichtenberg distinction highlighted.

The correct answer is Quaternary.

Blast injuries are classified into four main categories. Primary injuries are barotrauma from the blast overpressure wave, affecting air-filled organs (blast lung, tympanic rupture). Secondary injuries are penetrating wounds from flying debris and shrapnel. Tertiary injuries occur when the blast wind throws the victim, causing blunt trauma and fractures. Quaternary injuries are all other explosion-related effects, including burns, inhalational injury, crush injury and toxic exposure. Burns of the face and chest therefore fall under the quaternary category.

A fifth (quinary) category covers systemic effects of chemical, biological or radiological additives. But for thermal burns the answer is quaternary.

Incorrect Options:

• Primary: barotrauma to air-filled organs from the pressure wave, not burns.
• Secondary: penetrating injury from flying debris and shrapnel.
• Tertiary: blunt trauma from the body being thrown by the blast wind.

High-Yield Facts:

• Quaternary blast injury = burns, inhalation, crush and toxic exposure.
• Primary = barotrauma (blast lung, eardrum rupture).
• Secondary = penetrating debris, and tertiary = blunt trauma from being thrown.
• Quinary = systemic effects of chemical, biological or radiological additives.

Figure: Blast injury categories. Burns fall under the quaternary category, alongside inhalational and toxic injuries.

The correct answer is Taking consent for medicolegal examination from parents.

This is a child sexual assault (POCSO applies, as the survivor is under 18) with pregnancy. The correct medicolegal steps are: informing the police (mandatory reporting under POCSO), preserving the fetal tissue or products of conception for DNA fingerprinting to identify the assailant, and offering MTP, which at 16 weeks needs the opinion of only ONE registered medical practitioner under the MTP Amendment Act 2021 (one RMP up to 20 weeks). The exception is taking consent for the medicolegal EXAMINATION from the parents: a girl of 12 years or older who is competent gives her OWN informed consent for the examination, so it is taken from the survivor herself.

Note the distinction: for the MTP procedure in a minor under 18 the guardian's written consent is required, but for the medicolegal examination the competent survivor (12 years or older) consents herself.

Incorrect Options:

• Preserving fetal tissues for DNA-FP: correct - it helps establish the assailant by DNA fingerprinting.
• MTP can be done by opinion of 1 doctor: correct - at 16 weeks (up to 20) one RMP suffices under the 2021 amendment.
• Inform the police: correct and mandatory in child sexual assault under POCSO.

High-Yield Facts:

• A survivor 12 years or older gives her own consent for the medicolegal examination.
• MTP up to 20 weeks needs one RMP (2021 amendment), 20 to 24 weeks needs two.
• Child sexual assault must be reported to the police under POCSO.
• Preserve products of conception for DNA fingerprinting.