A Preliminary Study on Assertion of Hand from Whorl Pattern on Thumb

Abstract

Fingerprints are the most important and crucial evidence found at the scene of occurrence which proves to give a positive means of identification. Due to uniqueness of fingerprints even identical twins can be differentiated where DNA profiling proves futile. The prints on crime scene are rarely found in sequence and often incomplete. As a result of which it takes too much time for a fingerprint expert to conclude regarding the origin of questioned fingerprint. Since there is lack of established parameters which could be helpful in ascertaining the hand from which a single fingerprint belongs, the job of an expert becomes more tedious and meticulous. Therefore present study attempts to decipher some characteristics features from 200 bilateral rolled thumb prints having whorl pattern which is the second most prevalent pattern (30-35%) found in whole population after loop pattern (60-65%). As a preliminary effort only thumb prints with whorl patterns have been considered which can be specifically extended to other fingers having loop, arch and composite patterns [1]. The future perspective of present study can be elaborated by undertaking population and genetic studies [2, 3].