Identification1

Tattooing is common among Indians in the lower social strata of society. Various pigments like indigo, carbon, vermilion, Indian ink and Prussian blue are introduced into the dermis using pointed needles. Designs and patterns are usually found tattooed over the inner aspect of forearm and the dorsum of hand. Tattoo marks, are important identification marks both of the living as well as of the dead. They especially aid the verification of identity of decomposed bodies where the facial features are grossly altered. This is because the tattoo marks remain intact even after the epidermal layer of skin has been peeled off or destroyed due to putrefactive changes. These marks establish the identity of the individual from their designs, patterns, situations and extent. They may indicate the religion of a person and are particularly useful in the identification of an exhumed body (Figs 1.1 to 1.5).

Scars form important marks for identification. The shape, size and site of a scar may indicate the purpose and the nature of the weapon or agent that caused it.

The scar so produced is linear and permanent as the dermis is incised during surgery. It is composed of fibrous tissue covered by epithelium. A scar produced in childhood grows in size with age. The age of a scar can be approximately determined as follows: A 5-6 days old scar appears reddish and becomes pale, soft and sensitive by two weeks. It turns brownish in two to six months and thereafter becomes pigmented, wrinkled and insensitive (Fig. 1.6).

X-ray studies of closure of skull sutures, teeth eruption and appearance of ossification centres and their fusion with their shafts are useful for estimating age and for identification.

Before 30 years of age there is absence of skull suture closure and the fusion is first seen in the inner surface of the skull than the outer surface (Figs 1.7 and 1.8).

Epiphyses of proximal end of femur (Figs 1.14 to 1.16).

(Centres of ossification are present in calcaneum, talus and cuboid before birth)