FORENSIC SCIENCE

History: The history of word forensic rooted to way back Latin time where it was known
as” forensis”. By and large it sounds as a legal phrase.
to summarize following branches, have contribution to forensic science.
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Ballistic
Explosives
Toxicology
Narcotics
Serology
DNA profiling
Psychology
Lie detector
Odontology
Voice analysis
Photography
Instrumentation
Computers
Definition: It is application of science and technology for a matter under investigation.
Seven laws of forensic science.
1. Law of individuality:
Every object which is natural or manmade is unique.
2. Law of exchange principle:
Any person or his weapon which commits crime will almost always leave or take
something away
3. Law of progressive change:
“Everything changes with the passage of time”. Its impact on forensic science is
immense. The criminal, the crime scene and objects involved in the crime all
undergo changes, hence may become unrecognizable
4. Law of comparison:
Like should be compared with like.
5. Law of analysis:
Analysis can be no better than the sample analysed. the law emphasizes the correct
sampling and packing for effective application
6. Law of probability:
All conclusions may be derived after analysis of probability of maximum occurrence.
7. Law of circumstantial fact:
It states that men may tell lies but not fact.
Procedure for forensic testing:

Fingerprint
Study of fingerprinting technique is known as dactyloscopy. Among the most common
items of evidence collected at a crime scene are fingerprints. The ridged-skin patterns
at the end of our fingers contain individual characteristics that make them highly unique
Definition: fingerprint is the impression left by the friction ridges of finger.
There are three distinct types of fingerprints
Latent fingerprint
Are fingerprint impressions formed on a surface or an object and are usually invisible to
the naked eye. For example, when we touch any material or object, our hand sweat will
occupy the object or material surface. Using composition of the sweat unknown fingerprint
can be developed by appropriate methods.
Patent fingerprint
Are fingerprint impressions formed on a surface or an object and are visible to the naked
eye. for example, if we press our palm against blood, ink a visible fingerprint forms.
Plastic fingerprint:
Are three-dimensional impressions and can be made by pressing your fingers in fresh
paint, wax, soap, or tar. Like patent fingerprints, plastic fingerprints are easily seen by the
human eye and do not require additional processing for visibility purposes. The very story
of the fingerprint formation goes back to 10th week of pregnancy
Before going further into fingerprint technique, let us understand basic anatomy of skin.
The human skin
Human skin has three layers.
the upper layer - Epidermis
middle layer - Basal layer of epidermis
basal layer - Dermis

Composition of finger sweat: Finger sweat generally consist following composition;

amino acid, chloride, fats, water
Finger ridges (friction ridges)
Our finger has unique identity known as finger ridges. Finger ridges start forming at 10th
weeks of pregnancy. The skin on the finger contains friction ridges, has no hair and has
lots of sweat pores. The pattern of ridges is unique & persistent, thus useful for person
identification. Touching an object will leave latent print on it, thus useful for solving crime.
Definition of finger ridges or friction ridges: It is raised portion of the epidermis on the
finger.
These friction ridges have three distinct patterns.
1. Loop: Begin one side of the finger, curve around or upward and exit other side. These
are of two types; radial loop – these are slope towards thumb. Ulnar loop – these are
slope towards little finger

2. Whorl: is circular or spherical pattern. They resemble like tiny whirlpool

3. Arches: these finger ridges slope upward and downward like very Narrow Mountain.
They create like a wave – like pattern

These three types pattern further have following different types of ridge characteristic they
are collectively known as minutiae. Sir Francis Galton (1822-1922) was the first person
who observed the structures of minutiae. There are four distinct minutiae representation.
i. ridge ending: a small ridge line known as ridge ending

ii. Bifurcation: A division of finger ridge is known as bifurcation

iii.Ridge Island: A observation of island in the finger ridge is known as ridge island

iv. Ridge dot: a presence of small dot in the ridge line is known as ridge dot
Detection of latent fingerprint:
I. Silver Nitrate Test:
Reagent required:
1. 3% solution of silver nitrate solution
2. UV cabin
Procedure:
1. To the suspected area of fingerprint freshly prepared silver nitrate solution in distilled
water is sprayed.
2. Silver nitrate reacts with chloride present in the finger sweat to form silver chloride
2. Silver chloride so formed then exposed to high energy UV radiation
3. After 2-3 minute there forms black colored fingerprint image
4. Fingerprint image photographed for further investigation
Reaction Mechanism:

Advantages:
1. Reaction is simple and rapid
Disadvantages:
1. It is not economical
II. Ninhydrin Test:
Ninhydrin is known to react with amino acids and produce a purple-colored product called
Rhuemann’s purple, named after Siegfried Ruhemann who discovered the reaction in
1910. The reaction is sensitive enough to be used on the development the fingerprint with
small amounts of amino acids found in fingerprint residue.
Reagent required:
1. 6% solution of ninhydrin
Procedure:
1. At the suspected place of fingerprint freshly prepared ninhydrin solution is sprayed
2. Then ninhydrin allowed to react with amino acid present in the fingerprint residue.
3. After 24 hours a purple-colored fingerprint image developed
4. Image is photographed for further investigation
Reaction Mechanism:

Advantages:
1. It is simple test
2. Fingerprints visible on porous surfaces, especially older ones
Disadvantages:
1. Higher total cost of processing when compared to other latent print test
2. It requires 24 hours for development
3. Nihydrin is toxic for some mammals
Differences between ninhydrin and silver nitrate test
Ninhydrin test Silver nitrate test
Purple colored image Blackish colored image
Light energy not required Light energy must
Requires 24 hour for development Requires 2 -3 minute for development
Widely used method Rarely used
Capacitive fingerprint scanner:
In today’s world, capacitive fingerprint scanners are more common and found on
phones. Like the capacitive touchscreen, it measures your finger by using human
conductivity and difference in the capacitance
Construction:
The capacitive fingerprint scanner uses tiny capacitor array circuits that track the
detail of a fingerprint. Once capacitance generated at array of capacitor which is
connected to metal plate. This capacitance array connected to op amplifier circuit
system for analog to digital conversion. Which further connected to printing of
fingerprint image. There will be fingerprint matching unit which verify the fingerprint
under examination with stored database and gives appropriate result of matching

Working:
When finger was kept over capacitor. Ridge part of the finger skin touches more than
valley part of the finger skin. Now capacitor below finger ridges can hold more charges
hence its capacitance value increases. If capacitor is below a valley, it will remain as in
contact with air, which doesn’t allow it to store much extra charges, hence its capacitance
value will be less. Therefore, in the below figure C2 is more than C1. This high and low
capacitance converted into digital signal to get black and white image of the fingerprint.
Second stage, known as verification. Once fingerprint image obtained it will be matched
with database. For comparing and verification of fingerprint sophisticated pattern-
matching software were used. While verifying, this software matches following features
of fingerprint such as.
1. Loop, arch and whorl pattern of the fingerprint
2. Ridge bifurcation, Ridge Island, ridge dot and ridge ending pattern of the fingerprint.
Advantages
1. It is one of the advanced techniques
2. It is more accurate and difficult to fake
Disadvantages
1. With dirt and sweat it may not work accurately
2. It is not economical
BLOOD
Blood is a kind of body fluid, consisting of about 50 trillion tiny, living cell floating in a
yellowish liquid known as plasma. Blood circulates endlessly around one lakh kilometer
through blood vessels in the human body. Blood (consisting of) comprises 7% of our body
weight and adult’s body normally contains 9 pints volume of blood.
Composition
Blood has four main components:
45% red blood cells (RBC)
1% platelets
1% white blood cells (WBC)
53% plasma.
Functions of blood
1. Blood also transports chemical messenger called hormones and keeps body
temperature warm, hence dead body temperature always lesser than living

2. The bright reddish, disc shaped red blood cells collects oxygen from lungs and
distributes it to various parts
3.Roaming white blood cells battles against germs and heals wound
4. Tiny sized platelets help in blood clotting when the body is injured
5. Plasma carries important proteins and antibodies to different parts of the body
Age of blood stain can be calculated by color and nature of the stain - In Fresh blood stain
observed bright red in color, moist and sticky. Within 24 hours, the stain turns reddish
brown in color. After 24 hours, the stain turns dark brown and finally black.
Blood or blood stain collected from crime place enables us to understand following
1. Whether given stain was blood or not
2. Whether it is human blood or animal blood
3. From blood sample collected from crime we can establish blood group (like O, A, B
and AB) of the accused and deceased
4. Blood sample can be used to establish DNA profiling which will give further more clear
clarification on accused.
Examination of blood evidence requires blood sample both from victim and accused.
Evolution of blood is difficult task which requires good expertise in handling the work.
Blood speaks – Lets test it:
1. Is it blood? Most of the time, crime spot is haphazard, messy and there may exist
number of stains on crime scene. To determine whether stain or fluid collected from crime
scene is blood or not requires some tests; broadly they are classified as presumptive and
confirmatory test.
Presumptive Tests:
1. Kastle-Meyer Test:
Procedure:
1. To moisten cotton swab containing blood stain add drop of colorless phenolphthalin
solution
2. After a few seconds add 2-3 drops of hydrogen peroxide solution
3. Formation of pink color indicates presence of blood
Advantages
1. Sensitive, confirms the presence of blood
Disadvantages
1. Time consuming
Reaction Mechanism
Blood stain + phenolphthalin + hydrogen peroxide Pink color
2. Luminol Test:
This presumptive test extensively used to detect blood traces, invisible blood, old stains,
blood latent, shoe track, foot print. This test has been used in forensic applications to
reveal trace amounts of blood or traces of latent blood even after repeated cleansing
of the crime scene. It is used to locate latent blood on mat, floor, wood, metal and even
in several time laundered cloth material.
A photograph of luminol test shown below

Procedure
1. Mixture of hydrogen peroxide + luminol solution sprayed over suspected blood stain
2. Luminol reacts with blood gives bright bluish luminescence (shiny glowing patch
something like glowing traffic sign board we can see at night) confirming presence of
blood
3. Such formed bright luminescence spot can be photographed for further investigation
Reaction Mechanism
Luminol solution + Blood Bluish luminescence patch
Advantages
1. Effective in getting blood stain mark or footprint mark in an older crime scene.
2. Luminol test gives possibly best result even in crime scene showing signs of being
cleaned-up possibly to avoid the detection of blood.
3. This test useful in indoor or outdoor crime scene where whole blood evidence is
difficult to see due to the colors of the substrate.
4. It is used widely in vehicle suspected of being cleaned-up to conceal blood evidence.
5. It is reliable even in crime scene where blood has been diluted by rain and no longer
visible.
6. Luminol test can be conducted even on laundered cloth.
Disadvantages
1. Not economical
Blood spatter analysis
To understand how analysts interpret bloodstains, one must first understand the basic
properties of blood. Blood is in a liquid state when inside the body, and when it exits the
body, it does so as a liquid. But it doesn’t remain a liquid for long. Blood will begin to clot
within a few minutes, forming a dark, shiny gel-like substance that grows more solid as
time progresses. The presence of blood clots in bloodstains can indicate that the attack
was prolonged, or that the victim was bleeding for some time after the injury occurred.
Types of blood stains
Bloodstains are classified into three basic types:
1. Passive stains: include drops, flows and pools, and typically result from gravity acting
on an injured body.

2. Transfer stains: when a wet object with blood comes into contact with an object or
secondary surface, a blood transfer pattern occurs.

3. Projectile stains: It is created when blood source is subjected to a force greater than
gravitational force.
Different weapons blood stain
The characteristics of blood spatter depend on the speed at which the blood leaves the
body and the type of force applied to the blood source.
Sharp force injuries (stabbing): These injuries are caused by an object with a relatively
small surface area, such as an ice pick or a knife resulting in a smaller pattern of stains.

Blunt force injuries (hitting or beating): Objects inflicting this type of injury are usually
larger, such as a bat or hammer, hockey stick. the larger surface area will collect more
blood, producing drops of varying sizes

Gunshot injuries: Mist-like spatter caused by bullets entering and exiting the body.

Velocity impact patterns

Low-Velocity Stains: Low velocity is a force or energy equivalent to normal gravitational
pull up to a force or energy of 5 ft/s. The resulting stain is relatively large, usually greater
than or equal to 4 mm in diameter.
Medium-Velocity Impact Spatter: Medium-velocity impact spatter is usually considered
to be a pattern of spatter in which the force is said to be between 5 and 25 ft/s. The stain
size ranges between 1 and 4 mm in diameter.
High-Velocity Impact Spatter: High-velocity impact spatter is usually considered to be
a pattern of spatter in which the force is said to be 100 ft/s or higher. The stain size is 1
mm or smaller in diameter.
Interpreting the Patterns:
If impact of hitting/stabbing is exactly 900 then blood spatter may produce spherical
pattern with small tiles
If impact of hitting/stabbing is less than 900 then blood spatter may produce elongated
pattern with larger tiles

When blood is impacted, droplets are dispersed through the air. When these droplets
strike a surface, the shape of the stain changes depending on the angle of impact,
velocity, and distance travelled and type of surface impacted. Generally, the stain shape
will vary from circular to elliptical, with tails or spines extending in the direction of travel.
Smaller satellite stains may also break away from the initial drop. By measuring the width
and length of the stain, the angle of impact can be calculated, helping investigators
determine the actions that may have taken place at the scene.
As the angle of impact changes, so does the appearance of the resulting stain. A blood
drop striking a smooth surface at a 90° angle will result in an almost circular stain; there
is little elongation, and the spines and satellites are evenly distributed around the outside
of the drop. Below 75°, spines begin to become more prominent on the side of the spatter
opposite the angle of impact. As the angle of impact decreases, the spatter stain
elongates, becoming more elliptical, and the spines, etc., become more predominant
opposite the angle of impact. At very low (acute) angles, a single satellite may break off
to form a second stain; this is the distinctive “exclamation point” stain
Some of the terms used for describing and interpreting the bloodstain pattern are given
below
1. Point or Area of Convergence or the Point or Area of Origin
By drawing a line through the long axis of a group of bloodstains the point of convergence
can be determined. Where the lines of the group of stains intersect one another, the
convergence point can be established

2. Angle of impact
The acute angle formed between the direction of a blood drop and the plane of the
surface it strikes. Angle of impact can be calculated by taking sin inverse of width
divided by length of the blood spatter.

Worked Example
1. Calculate angle of impact for blood spatter with width 8cm and length 20 cm

2. A dead body found 10 ft away from blood spatter. Angle of impact of blood spatter
found to be 150 . Calculate at what height blood had fallen
Hence blood fallen at the height of 2.67ft
SALIVA
Saliva is a complex fluid, produced in the salivary glands such as parotid submandibular
and sublingual. It has 94% of water along with many chemicals.
1. Inorganic salt - Bicarbonate, Phosphate, Sodium, Chloride, Potassium, Calcium, etc.
2. Protein - some important proteins are – Alpha amylase, mucines (glycoprotein),
Cysteine, Gustin, Histatins, Lysozyme Salivary peroxidase, Proline-rich proteins,
Statherin
3. non-protein compounds- few are urea, urea acid, amino acids, creatinine
4. Carbohydrates – only trace amount of carbohydrates presents in saliva (diabetic patient
may contain more concentration).
5. Lipids - unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, lecithin, phospholipids
6. Hormones - steroids.
Function of the saliva
1. It facilitate constant adjustment of biochemical and physiological pathway
2. Allow articulation, digestion, and swallowing of food
3. Protects teethes surface and inner membrane lines of mouth against biological,
mechanical and chemical
4. Participates in temperature, taste and touch perception of food
Detection of saliva
1. Iodine Test
Procedure:
1. In the beginning in a cleaned beaker starch sample available in the market is taken
2. To the above solution 5 drops of iodine solution added
3. Immediately blue color is observed
4. Now to this blue colored solution suspected saliva sample added and stirred properly,
after 10 minutes blue color starts fading and finally disappear.
Reaction Mechanism:
I step in the beginning starch (long chain of repeated glucose unit), reacts with iodine ion
and forms weak starch – iodine complex, which is blue in color. Structure is much complex
hence schematically represented as follows.

II step: when suspected saliva is added, salivary amylose starts enzymatic action and
breaks down long chain starch into smaller glucose units which are colorless, and iodine
get regenerated which is also colorless (or very faint yellow color) hence blue color
originally formed starts disappearing

Advantages
1. Simple reaction and rapid
Disadvantages
1. Although reaction was simple, sometimes it may not give result with saliva stain and
more sample of saliva was required which may be difficult to get from crime scene
2. It may give test with other biological fluid
2. Phadebas Test:
It is also presumptive test where reaction between starch and alpha amylose takes place
giving blue color
 Phadebas paper test
Phadebas paper preparation:
Phadebas paper consists of a water-soluble starch polymeric substrate carrying blue dye.
The solution containing starch carrying blue dye is spread over filter paper strip and dried.
Procedure
1. Phadebas paper placed over saliva stain containing object
2. Paper sprayed with deionized water and pressed against area containing saliva stain
3. Enzymatic reaction takes place between salivary amylose and starch. Salivary
amylose breaks down starch molecule hence blue dye released giving blue color.
Reaction can be summarized as follows.

Advantage
1. Cheap, quick and highly sensitive
Disadvantage
1. May is not economical