[An unusual case of a self-inflicted injury to the tongue to simulate a criminal offence].

Self-inflicted injuries can have various motivations. The most common causes are mental or neurological diseases or disorders. Sometimes, however, they are also used to simulate a crime and attract attention. Such a case is reported here. A young male student of Asian origin pretended to have been assaulted to force him to convert to Islam. He claimed that he had been beaten and his tongue had been cut with a knife. The clinical and medicolegal examination did not show any signs of blunt force, but only sharp force injuries in the form of superficial scratches and cuts on the forehead and tongue. Self-inflicted injuries to the tongue are very rare and mainly occur in neurological diseases and accidents where the tongue is bitten off.