These cases constituted 10.79 percent of the total medicolegal deaths autopsied. The majority of the victims were young Hindu housewives burnt within 5 years of their marriage. Cooking apparatus such as chulha, coalfire, stove or cooking gas were the most common source of fire. In a number of cases, kerosene oil was poured over the victims and fired with a match stick. However, about half of the burn cases were accidental, in which cooking on open unguarded flames and loose, highly flammable synthetic sarees of the victims can be blamed. Among those who died in suspicious circumstances, i.e. burnt alive or forced to commit suicide by fire, dowry and family quarrels and marital disharmony were the two important predisposing factors. Other contributing factors affecting the incidence in some way were illiteracy, arranged and child marriages, joint family structure, oedipal dominance of mothers-in-law, unemployment and economic dependence of husbands on parents, near complete dependence of women on their husbands and in-laws, and lack of social security amongst Hindu females. Male burn deaths were few and usually accidental. 4 tables and 9 references. (Author summary modified)