Living on Site: Health Experiences of Migrant Female Construction Workers in North India

This study examines the health experiences of migrant female workers in the construction industry in North India by addressing the following four broad categories of issues: what do these women think about their health in general? Where do these women go for treatment when they are ill? What are their perceptions about the utilization of trained medical personnel or hospitals for childbirth? Does migration improve women's health and their utilization of health facilities and if yes, does duration of stay in an urban area matter? Based on focus group discussions (FGDs), the results suggest that while the health status of these women have improved after migration, they have not started using modern health facilities either for childbirth or general illnesses. The study recommends that in order to understand the impact of migration on migrant women working in the informal sector, we need to address the broader social environment within which their health behavior occurs. We also need to look at the geographical dimension of exposure to urban lifestyles and ideas besides exposure over time (i.e., whether longer or shorter duration of stay in urban areas) and age (i.e., whether they migrated at younger ages or older ages).

Evaluation of physical evidence in a burn case

A young lady was alleged to have died due to accidental burns from a kerosene pressure stove. The dying declaration read that the deceased caught fire accidentally. Evaluation of physical evidence present at the site of the incident, the dying declaration and examination of the body refuted accidental burning from the stove. It proved to be a case of suicide with assistance from the accused due to delivery of insufficient dowry. The accused was convicted on the basis of the physical evidence collected from the scene and evaluated by the forensic experts.