Individualizing characteristics of footprints in Gujjars of North India—Forensic aspects

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Abstract

Careful examination of foot impressions can provide important evidences and clues in a crime scene investigation. The present study is conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 1040 adult male Gujjars inhabiting the sub-Himalayan region of North India. The study describes the utility of individualizing characteristics of footprints in forensic examinations. Various features of the toes, humps in the toe line, phalange marks, flatfoot condition, pits, cracks, corns, etc., were studied. Frequency of some of these characters has also been recorded. The frequency of the tibialis-type foot is the highest, followed by fibularis-type, then intermediate-type and midularis-type is found to be least frequent among the sample. Three humps have been found most often in footprints, followed by two humps, four humps, and then five humps and one hump are found to be least frequent. Flatfoot condition is found to be present in 1.54% of the sample population and the trait also shows bilateral variation. Phalange marks, crease marks, pits, deformity, etc., are also demonstrated with suitable examples in the present population. These characteristic features can provide useful clues to establish personal identity whenever complete or partial footprints are recovered at the crime scene and can help in including or excluding the possible presence of individual at the scene of crime.

Introduction

Human foot has been studied for a variety of reasons, i.e. for forensic as well as for non-forensic purposes by anatomists, forensic scientists, anthropologists, physicians, podiatrists, foot industries, US army and numerous other groups. Comparison of the shape, size or morphology of a footprint has been used successfully in criminal investigation and in the administration of justice in the past. Various forensic studies have been conducted in this regard which universally concluded that the mature foot and its impression are not only unique to an individual, but also can provide highly valuable clues regarding personal identity in a crime scene investigation [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11].

Footprints can be found as a kind of evidence and can be collected from almost all types of crime scenes. The stride length, position of each footprint, its shape, size, angulations and depth, interspaces of toes, ball lines, insteps, inner and outer margins, heel creases, injuries or accidental damages provide indirect information with regard to gait pattern, height of the person, length of legs, range of body weight and interrelated movement of the foot, ankle, leg and the body that are individualistic to that particular person [12]. Thus, the footprints whether complete or partial or even a small portion can provide evidence, which may indicate the skeletal and body structure of the person who made it.

In a foot, the particular alignment of the bones to one another and even the way they are held by connective tissues are the product of heredity and environment and differ not only from individual to individual but also from left to right feet of the same individual; even identical twins do not make identical footprints.

The purpose of the present investigation is to study the shape, size, alignment of toes, humps, creases, cuts, cracks, pits, etc., of the foot so as to draw conclusions for individualizing characteristics. In addition, the occurrence or frequency of some of the foot characteristics was also recorded in the population under study.

Section snippets

Material and methods

The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 1040 adult male Gujjars ranging in age from 18 to 30 years inhabiting the Siwalik hills and adjoining plains in the sub-Himalayan region located in the north-east of Chandigarh city in India. The data constitute a sample from 16 villages of rural background. These 16 villages are identified on the basis of demographic composition. Majority of the population living in these villages belong to Gujjars along with a few households of other caste

Morphological or individualizing characteristics of the footprints

As the footprint is an impressed representation of the morphological or shape features of the fleshed foot, the weight-bearing pressure of the body imprints the shape of the foot on whatever surface it touches whether the surface is a floor or the inside of a shoe. A footprint is the negative image of the positive fleshed plantar surface representing only the weight-bearing areas of the plantar surface [12]. A footprint may be normal, flat, curved or one of the infinite variations in between

Discussion and conclusion

The present study highlights some of the new individualizing characteristics of the footprints like the detailed investigation of phalange marks, pits, cracks, abnormal horizontal ridge and flatfoot character. The study further confirms that the morphological features such as relative length of toes, humps in the ball line, phalange marks, creases, pits, deformity, flatfoot condition, etc., can serve as useful evidence and link between the crime and the perpetrator. Some of these

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the voluntary participation and cooperation of my subjects during data collection. I would like to thank Dr. Abhik Ghosh, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, for his valuable suggestions during preparation of the manuscript.

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