FORENSIC SCIENCE- PROJECT REPORT

PROJECT REPORT
ON
DEFORMITIES

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INDEX

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TABLE OF CASES

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INTRODUCTION

Deformity is means for personal identity. Identity means the determination of the individuality of
a person. Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, everyone has the
right to recognition everywhere as a person, before the law. Therefore, every citizen of a member
State of the United Nations has a right to possess his personal identity, unquestioned.

The question of identification of a living person is mostly the concern of the police and is raised
in criminal courts in connections with absconding soldiers and criminals, or persons accused of
assault, rape, sodomy or murder; or when there is a mix –up of new born babies in hospitals, or
young lost children; and occasionally, in adults who have lost their memory. It is also frequently
raised in civil courts owing to impersonation practiced by people to secure unlawful possession
of property, insurance claims or to obtain the prolongation of a lapsed pension.

The identification of a living person is based entirely on known fingerprints or birthmarks or

several impressions with regard to characteristic gestures, movements, or shape and other
features of the teeth, eyes and hair , or voice, but is liable to mistakes.

The examination of a person for the purpose of identification should not be undertaken without
obtaining his consent, and at the same time, it should be explained to him that the facts noted
might go against him in evidence. It should be remembered that consent given before the police
is of no account, and that the law does not oblige anyone to submit to examination against his
will and thus furnish evidence against himself, except when he is an accused person under
arrest.1

The identification of a dead body is required in cases of sudden and unexpected death, fires,
explosions, railway or aircraft accidents, mutilated or hidden decomposed bodies, or foul play
and often needs great medico-legal acumen.

Identity can sometimes be very deceptive. For instance , a lady reappeared four years after she
had been allegedly buried and the father-in-law was under duress for four years.

1
Section 53 and 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code’ 1973

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Identification may be required of a living person, of a dead body, of fragmentary remains, or of

bones only.

The following points are usually noted for the purposes of identification:

1. Race
2. Sex
3. Age
4. Complexion and features
5. Anthropology and Dactylography
6. Hair
7. Footprints
8. Deformities
9. Scars
10. Tattoo-marks
11. Occupation marks
12. Handwriting
13. Clothes and personal articles
14. Speech and Voice
15. Tics, manner and habit
16. Gait
17. Mental Power, memory and education
18. Miscellaneous methods of identification
19. DNA Profile

This project report deals with Deformities as a means of personal Identification.

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DEFORMITIES
Deformity is the malformation of any component of the body. The malformation may be the
result of bony distortion or alteration in the topography of soft tissues. The deformity could lead
to an impairment or even functional loss along with cosmetic disfigurement.

Deformities have a conformity status as regards identity. Either way, they are important because
they cannot be reproduced. Evidently unless all the factors responsible for the displacement are
possible which is humanly not practicable exact deformity cannot be reproduced. It is for these
reasons that the deformities both congenital and acquired are considered specific points of
identity almost next to fingerprints.

Deformities are highly useful form for identification. They may be congenital or acquired. Cleft
palate, here hip, supernumery finger or toes, supplemtary web finger or toes, etc, are congenital
deformities. Surgery scars, malunited and united fractures etc, are acquired deformities.

TYPES OF DEFORMITY

There are two types of deformities:

(a) Congenital

Congenital deformities are present from birth, have genetic background and hence cannot be
artificially reproduced. They cannot be reproduced as they are consequences of congenital
anomalies followed by compensatory reactions to maintain balance between contradictory
forces.

Congenital deformities are cleft-palate, harelip. Supernumerary fingers or toes,

supplementary mammae, web-fingers or toes, birthmarks (naevi) and moles.

(b) Acquired

The acquired type occurs as a result of a trauma or an accident. The impact, the direction and
the force govern the direction and the displacement arising there from. This determines the

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type of the deformity. Acquired deformities are malunited and ununited fractures of the
bones of extremities are the result of previous injuries.2

CLASSIFICATION OF THE DEGREE OF DEFORMITY

A Deformity is classified into the following three grades:

1. First Degree: the deformity is mild and can be corrected by passive stretching.

2. Second Degree : Shortening in the soft tissues prevents full passive correction of the
deformity. Attempted passive correction results in pain. Slight degree of bony changes
may be present.

3. Third Degree: the deformity is rigid and can’t be corrected by passive manoeuvres. It
may be associated with bony changes.

2
D.K. Ganguly, “ Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology” Page – 234.

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DEFORMITY AND OCCUPATION

Deformities are helpful in identifying unknown dead bodies, as certain trades leave deformities
by which persons engaged in them may be identified. For example:

 Horny and rough hands are observed among individuals employed in hard manual labour.
 Kahars or dooly- bearers have usually horny marks and bent shoulders.
 An Indian weigh man, who has to weigh corn by lifting up a balance with heavy scales,
gets a callosity, usually on the hyopothenar eminence of his right palm.
 A callosity on the right middle finger’s last joint, where the pencil usually rests, is seen
on clerks.
 Depression in the lower part of the sternum is found among shoemakers due to the
constant pressure of the last against the bone.
 Tailors have marks of needle punctures on their left index finger, and a bursa on the
lateral malleolus from the attitude of sitting adopted while sewing.
 Photographers, dyers, engineers, and chemists generally have their fingers stained with
dyes or chemicals.

In the case of State v. Lcatherberry and Fowler,3 tried at the American Courts Martial on 19th
January 1944, the accused were convicted of murdering Claude Hailstone, taxi- driver, by
throttling from the evidence, of blue fibres found in the scrapings from under their fingernails
which were similar to those found on the victim’s jacket.

3
Francis Edward Campus, MJ< Vol XVII, Part I, 1949, 2

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