Correlation of Handprints and Footprints with respect to Stature: Study on Maharashtrians of Mumbai

Identification of an individual is an important aspect in forensic investigations. Stature estimation is of interest to forensic scientists for its importance in human identification. The present study was an attempt to deduce the stature from footprints as well as the hand prints and hence to determine whether there is any correlation between the stature and the respective prints/ length.  Footprint is valuable physical evidence that can be found at scene of crime and its identification can facilitate elimination of the suspects and establishing the identity of the criminal. Also handprints to some extent can help in estimation of stature. The study aimed to estimate the stature in a sample of 1000 bilateral footprints and handprints collected from 500 adult Indian male Maharashtrians and 500 adult Indian female Maharashtrians from Mumbai who consented to volunteer in the study and ranged in the age-group of 18 to 25 years. Samples were collected and data was entered in Microsoft Excel 2007 and statistically analyzed using linear regression analysis. In case of both males and females all footprint lengths exhibit a statistically positive significant correlation with stature. Similarly, handprint lengths exhibit a statistically positive significant correlation with stature. The values of correlation co-efficient shows that the footprint length is more significantly correlated with stature compare to handprint lengths.