1Assistant Prof. & Head, Department of Forensic Science, Govt. Institute of Forensic Science, Nagpur
2Assistant Prof, Department of Forensic Science, Govt. Institute of Forensic Science, Nagpur
3Joint Director, Higher Education (Nagpur Region), Nagpur, Maharashtra
4Principal & Professor, N.C. Medical College, Panipat, Haryana, India
*Corresponding Author: Email: Badiye.Ashish@gmail.com
Online published on 9 March, 2017.
Determination of the sex of an unidentified individual from footprint or its part may contribute towards the establishment of identity and elimination of the suspects of the non-contributing sex from the investigation. The main aim of the present work was to study the possible existence of sexual dimorphism and bilateral differences in the footprint breadth dimensions (at Heel and Ball region) and in the indices derived from these dimensions. This study included 400 healthy adult subjects comprising of 200 males and 200 females in the age group of 18–35 years. Thus, a total of 800 foot prints (200 x 2 of males and females each) were obtained using standard ink method. The breadth at ball (BBAL) and breadth at heel (BHEL) regions were measured and tabulated. Heel ball index [(BHEL÷ BBAL) × 100] and Ball heel index [(BBAL÷ BHEL) × 100] were derived for both males and females and t-test was applied to test any statistical significance (at p<0.05 level). The study concludes that, breadth dimensions of footprints can aid in the side (left/right) and sex determination. However, HB & BH indices do not serve as reliable indicators for determining sex but will be helpful in determination of the side
Heel-ball index, Forensic, Ball-Heel index, Partial footprint
