Soumya Parwal, Apurv Goyal, & Raneeta Pal, Assistant Professor, Manipal University, Jaipur
INTRODUCTION
Evidence is the most fundamental necessity in both civil and criminal proceedings. There are many different types of evidence to convict or acquit a person such as eyewitness identification, expert opinion, fingerprints, etc. One piece of the evidence which is not much evolved and used in the domain of forensic science is bite mark evidence. The forensic odontology is evolving and taking out the bite mark as a most competent and accurate form of physical evidence to decide the culpability of a person. In the history of India, the forensics lead us to the people behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The veerappan after being shot was identified by his external ear forensic examination. Jai Chand, Raja of Kanauji was the first dental identification in India in the year 1193. The dental examination has proved that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist of 26/11, was not a juvenile and should be treated as an adult.
The definition of bite mark evidence is “mark made by teeth either alone or in combination with other mouthparts.”4 Forensic dentistry or Forensic odontology is “The application of dental knowledge to the elucidation of legal problems.”5 The father of the forensic odontologist was Dr. Oscar Amoedo. The bite marks of every person is different and the difference between the fingerprints and bite marks are that the fingerprint remains the same but bite marks change over time. Due to this feature of bite mark, dental experts can also find the age of an accused and victim and other specifications such as sex determination, etc.6 Bite marks are generally linked to sexual assaults, crime and child abuse.
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