Upload
others
View
4
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
139 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
Determination of individual characteristics in Modern
Gujarati language for handwriting analysis
Swetang Patel14
Abstract
This paper gives information about Graphology, handwriting analysis, different types of
handwriting characteristics. Gujarati language also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee,
Guujratee, Gujrathi, and Gujerathi. Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language and its native language
to the Gujarat of India. Gujarati is the variant of Devanagari, the main difference being the
absence of the shirorekha or the line above the character and also more rounded shapes than
others. The first writing systems were developed more than five thousand years ago. They have
used anticipated pictorial representation to communicate a message. Writing or handwriting is
a universal skill that does not distinct from sex, colour, or creed and race.
Introduction
Standardization is a socio-economic circumstance dating from the beginning of the 20th
century. In the history of national language standardization defined as “The construction – and
subsequent dissemination – of a uniform supra dialectal normative variety”.
In writing, physical body parts are used so it is a physical process. Through the nervous system,
the brain sends the signal or order to the arms, hands and fingers, where they are manipulated
as writing tools together. In such a way, the aim to write forms deep within the creative
processes of the mind and makes writing an expressive gesture representative of the mind
behind the pen.[1]
Every written sample shows the same variety as the faces, fingerprints, bodies, voices of all
persons in this world. Generally we recognize our friends’ voices on the phone, and by the
frequency of tone alone and know about their state of happiness, sadness, anger, warmth or can
be said as the emotional state of a person. As same, handwriting is a reflection of mood changes,
characterizing the state of mind of a writer at that moment.
Writing or handwriting is a universal skill that does not distinct from sex, colour or creed and
race. Graphology offers a neutral outline of the distinctive personality and behaviour of an
14 M.Sc. Criminology, GFSU, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
140 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
individual, without their physical presence. [2]
Graphology is also called Graphoanalysis, is a process which is used by some to attempt to
determine personality traits and details about an individual based on their handwriting.
Graphology began in 1871 by Jean-Hippolyte Mlchon, and it is still popular in Europe,
especially in France. Graphology is not undertaken as real science because of the evidence
which is against it. One way that has been tested is, by having multiple graphologists who
analyse the same handwriting sample.
The advantage of graphology is that it will not matter how rarely or frequently you write, how
praised or ugly your handwriting, it always has a meaning to the eye of the trained graphologist
in the circumstances of personality and character evaluation.[3]
Graphology
The word “graphology” word is made from the combination of the Greek word “Graphein”,
means “to write” and the “Logos” means “an account”. Graphology is the study of writing
which is based on the growing body of knowledge which is continuously being tested in
practical use. The science of Handwriting or the Graphology is based on the presumption that
handwriting expression and personality functioning are convolutedly related. Graphology is
based on knowledge, not a codified system like arithmetic. People are not alarmed to find
varying, many times conflicting explanations assigned to a stroke or shape. It is manageable to
understand writing characters using different approaches to certain origins. Graphology is an
art of combining and integrating information that essential training and judgement in its
application.
Graphology is an inference of different characters from a person’s handwriting. According to
the theory of graphology, handwriting is an expression of personality. The way words and
letters are formed is analysed systematically so it can reveal traits of personality. Graphologists
analyse elements like the size of individual letters and the degree and regularity of slanting,
ornamentation, angularity and curvature. Other basic analysis are the general appearance and
impression of the writing, the pressure of upward and downward stroked, and the smoothness
of the writing.[5]
Graphologists have cautioned that the validity of handwriting analysis can be subverted by
such consideration as myopia and the loss of motor control. Generally, the scientific basis for
graphological interpretations of personality is questionable.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
141 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
History of Graphology
The first writing systems were developed more than five thousand years ago, they anticipated
pictorial representation to communicate a message. Those earlier writing systems include
cuneiform which was developed in Sumer (now it is Iraq) and hieroglyphics from Egypt. The
first development of pure alphabets that uses a single symbol to represent a single phoneme
(letter sound) began in Egypt in 1800 BC and in time the Phoenician alphabet emerged in
approximately 1200 BC. The alphabets developed with the coastline of modern Lebanon,
consisted of 22 constant letters and did not record vowel sounds. That practice is still in the
Arabic and Hebrew written languages today.
Timeline of Graphology
1622: The publication “How to recognise from a letter the nature and quality of a writer”
written by Italian doctor Camillo Baldi. This is the first publication which is known as a printed
publication on the study of different handwriting.
Late 18th Century: Gainsborough apparently keeps his model of handwriting on the painting
portraits.
1875: French abbot Jean Hyppolyte Michon formulated the term “Graphology”, from the Greek
words: “Graph” means “to write” or “I write”, and “Logos” means “doctrine” to “Theory”.[6]
1895: “Writing originates in the brain, not in the fingers and that handwriting is actually
brainwriting” said by a child psychologist, Wilhelm Preyer.
1920: Henry Grunfeld, co-founder of SG Warburg, detected that someone was stealing petty
cash from his family firm in Germany. He took the help of handwriting experts, and they
promptly recognised the culprit. Applicants firstly have to submit the samples of handwriting
before being accepted for a situation. Grunfeld persisted convicted of the meritss of graphology
until his death at age of 95 in 1999. “There is not a single case in 60 years where the
graphologists had stated that something that turns out to be wrong.”
1930: Dr Ludwig Klages published an influential “Handwriting and Character”. He is widely
considered as the father of modern graphology.
1949-1954: Dr Eric Singer, an Austrian but lived in England, published “Graphology and
Everyman”, “The Graphologists Alphabets”, “Handwriting and Marriage”, “Personality in
Handwriting”. [7]
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
142 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
1965: Fransic T. Hilliger established a company “Handwriting Analysis Ltd.”. He was the
student of Dr Eric Singer. His business encompasses personnel selection, tuitions,
graphotherapy (this therapy proposed that negative emotions can result in disease), and work
at London’s Old Bailey as an “Expert witness”. He evolves a method for assessing the degree
of any trait or characteristics in a handwriting sample, and setting the first standard for students
in the UK.
Handwriting
Handwriting is writing with the hand as different from print. The term handwriting can be more
or less restricted to mean the form of writing peculiar to each person. Scales were developed
to measure the quality of the script from grade to grade in the elementary schools, and a series
of careful investigations of the handwriting movements were undertaken. Different studies
revealed that the pressure on the penholder (grip pressure) as well as the pressure of the pen
point on the paper (point pressure) varies continuously during writing, and the speed of writing
is not uniform but depends upon the which type of stroke going to made. For example,
movement speed usually increases slowly as the strokes begins, comes at maximum in the
middle, and drops off in the direction of end. The direction of the stroke, loops and turns, the
complexity and the type of stroke that preceded will alter the speed of a given writing
movement. Speed is also affected by length of letter elements, usually it takes more time to
make long strokes than to make short ones.
By comparison of the handwriting movement of poor and good writers, researchers found that
these two groups have difference in position of writing hand, speed, and types of movements
in fingers and hands while writing. A good writer showed greater uniformity in the formation
speed of similar strokes.
Overview of Study
There are two variation of concern during the comparison handwriting: the variation of the
handwriting of the particular individual and the handwriting from one individual to another.
These two variabilities are seen when several individuals are asked to write the same word
many times. Intuitively, the within writer variability (the variation in a person's handwriting
samples) is less than the between-writer variation (the variation between the handwriting
samples of two different people). The goal of this study is to initiate this intuitive observation
in an objective manner.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
143 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
The study consisted of three phases: data collection, feature determination, and determining
individuality. In the data collection phase, prototypical handwriting samples were collected.
The feature separation phase was to acquire handwriting features that would entitle the writing
style of one writer to be differentiate from the writing style of another writer. The validity
determination phase was to determine the differences and similarity between the two individual
characteristics. The study pertains to natural handwriting and not to forgery or disguised
handwriting. Handwritten document examination for forensic analysis is different from
recognition of content.
Handwriting samples
Our objective was to obtain a set of handwriting samples that would capture variations in
handwriting between writers. This meant we would need handwriting samples from multiple
writers. The handwriting samples of the sample population should have the following
properties
i. They are sufficient in number to exhibit normal writing habits and to portray the
consistency with which particular habits are executed, and
ii. For comparison purposes, they should have similar nature in texts, in writing
circumstances and in purpose of writing.
Various factors can be impact the style of handwriting, e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, handedness,
the handwriting system learned, subject matter or content, writing protocol (written from
memory, dictated, or copied out), writing instrument like paper and pen, alterations in the
handwriting of an individual over time, etc. For instance, we assured that document content
would be such that it would apprehend as many features as possible. Only some of these factors
were considered in the experimental design. The other factors will have to be part of a different
study. However, the similar experimental methodology can be used to determine the influence
factors not reviewed.
Source document
A source document in Gujarati, which was to be copied by each writer, was designed for the
purpose of this study. It is concise (55 words) and complete in that it captures all characters
(alphabets and numerals) and certain character combinations of interest. In addition, the
reference document also include punctuation, and form of a general document that permits
extracting macro-document attributes such as word and line spacing, line skew, etc. Forensic
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
144 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
literature in English refers to many such documents, including the London Letter and the Dear
Sam Letter [8].
Each participant (writer) was required to copy-out the source document one time in his/her
most natural handwriting, using plain, unruled/ruled sheets, and a medium black/blue ballpoint
pen provided by us.
Reference document:
Illustrative Document:
Writer Population
We decided to make the writer population as representative of the Gujarat State population as
possible. Statistical issues in determining the writer population are: the number of samples
needed to make statistically valid conclusions and the population distribution needed to make
અનુચ્છેદ ૧: પ્રતિષ્ઠા અને
અતિકારોની દ્રતિ એ સર્વ
માનર્ો જન્મથી સ્ર્િંત્ર અને
સમાન હોય છે િેમનામાં
તર્ચારશતિ અને અંિ: કરણ
હોય છે. અને િેમણે પરસ્પર
બંિુત્ર્ ની ભાર્નાથી ર્િવરંુ્
જોઈએ.
અનુચ્છેદ ૨: દરકે. વ્યતિને
જાતિ, ત ંગ, ભાષા, િમવ
,રાજકીય અથર્ા બીજા
અતભપ્રાય રાિર ીય અથર્ા
સામાતજક ઉદ્ધ્ભર્સ્થા ન,
તમ કિ, જન્મ અથર્ા મોભા
જરે્ા કોઈ પણ જાિના ભેદભાર્
ર્ગર આ ઘોષણા માં રજૂ
કરર્ામાં આરે્ ા સઘળા
અતિકારો અને સ્ર્િંત્રિા
ભોગર્ર્ાનો હક્ક છે. ર્િુમાં
કોઈપણ વ્યતિ િે સ્ર્િંત્ર, ટ્રસ્ટ્
હેઠળ ના સ્ર્શાસન હેઠળ ન
હોય િેર્ા અથર્ા સાર્વભમત્ર્
ની બીજી કોઈપણ મયાવદા હેઠળ
આરે્ ા દેશ અથર્ા પ્રદેશની
હોય િો પણ રાજકીય,
હફામર્તર્ષયક અથર્ા
આંિરરાિર ીય મોભાના િોરણ ે
િેની સાથે કોઈપણ ભેદભાર્
રાખર્ામાં આર્શે નતહ.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
145 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
conclusions that apply to the Gujarati population, which are issues in the design of experiments
[9].
Randomness
If the samples are random, then every individual in Gujarat should have an equal chance of
participating in the study. We attempted to make our sample population as random as possible.
Sample handwriting was obtained by contacting participants in person or by mailing the study.
For geographic diversity, we obtained samples from the native communities from different
districts (Surat, Valsad, Navsari, Vadodara, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Ankleshwar, Aravalli,
Bharuch, Chhota-Udaipur, Junagadh) of the Gujarat State, and few are collected from out of
India also like Chicago, New Jersey, USA, Toronto, Canada, Ternopil – Ukraine but are of
Gujarati Origin.
Sample Size
The sample population should be large enough to enable drawing inferences about the entire
population through the observed sample population. The issue of large enough is related to
sampling error, the error that results from taking one sample instead of examining the whole
population, i.e., how close is an estimate of a quantity based on the sample population to the
true value for the entire population? Higher precision levels would entail a larger number of
samples. Our database has a sample size of about 98, and our results are therefore subject to
such a margin of error.
Representativeness
The sample population should be representative of the Gujarati population. For instance, since
the Gujarati population consists of an (approximately) equal number of males and females, it
would Be unwise to perform the study on a sample population consisting of only males and
expect the conclusions of the study to apply to the entire Gujarati population consisting of
males and females (especially in the absence of any scientific evidence that proves or disproves
the association between handwriting and gender). The sample was made representative by
means of a stratified sample with proportional allocation [9].
Each writer was asked to provide the following Name, Age, Gender, Birth Place, Occupation,
Languages known, Current city and Signature in Gujarati language.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
146 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
Identification of Handwriting
Identification of handwriting presumes considerable importance in the court of law when the
authenticity of signature is challenged. Even when the handwriting itself is not to be doubted,
the conditions under which it was written sometimes become a great moment. Such questions
as whether the writer’s hand was guided or forced to write or whether the alteration was applied
after the completion of the document often have to be answered by the expert in court of law.
One of the first steps in the investigation of disputed signature or writing is to find out or collect
the genuine or natural writing of disputed authors which have to be compared with disputed
writings. The experts use the writing characteristics in determining authenticity presuppose that
each handwriting has certain persistent characteristics features from which available
handwriting samples can be different. And another question is whether the observed difference
is within the expected limits or out of them. Many innovative methods are developed to identify
and verify authenticity of given pieces of writing: Compare the dates with the age of paper,
determining whether writing at the creases preceded or followed creasing, and physical and
chemical examination of paper and the ink to determine the origin, manufacturing date, and the
date of writing.
Use of handwriting analysis
People learn handwriting analysis for different purposes like, the criminology firm of science
offers a study course which entitles one with a licensed handwriting expert. Testimony from
the handwriting expert is admissible in the court of law for the purpose of build identification
or validity of a specific document. In this field, the professional title for one is “examiner of
questioned document”. Those professional experts work in cooperation with law enforcement
agencies, attorneys.
There is another wider group of people who study handwriting analysis as a means to find out
themselves and others. These experts are called as graphologists. They know about
enhancement in formation of writing and suggest similar enhancement in the personality of the
writer. Character attributes that vary from the norm will show up in the handwriting. The
graphologists get to know about how to analyse the difference between normal and abnormal
handwriting.
Gujarati script and Evolution of the Script
Gujarati (also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, Guujaratee, Gujrathi, and Gujerathi) is
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
147 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
an Indo-Aryan language and its native language to the Gujarat of India. This language is part
of the greater family of Indo-European languages. Gujarati name given because this is the
language of the Gujjars. Origin of the Gujarati’s can be traced back to Old Gujarati (circa 1100-
1500 AD).
In India, Gujarati is the official language in the state of Gujarat, and in Union Territories of
Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This language is also a statutory provincial language
in state West Bengal. As per the 2011 census, 4.5% of Indian population speaks Gujarati.
Worldwide there are 65.5 million people who speak Gujarati, and these people make Gujarati
26th most spoken native language in the world. Gujarati is extensively spoken in large parts of
Africa, Madagascar, UK and USA, and as well as various emigrants’ communities around the
world.
Gujarati is the variant of Devanagari, the main difference being the absence of the Shirorekha
or the line above the character and also more rounded shapes than others. Initially it was used
for commercial ends, it has been introduced to as saraphi (banker’s) or mahajani (trader’s)
script.
According to development, Gujarati is divided into three historical stages
1. Old Gujarati (1100-1500 CE)
Old Gujarati also known as Gujarati Bhakha or Gurjar apabhramsa. It is the antecedent of the
modern Gujarati and Rajasthani language which is spoken by the Gurjars, who were residing
and ruling in Gujarat, Rajputana, Punjab, and central India. This language was used as the
literary language around the 12th century. Texts of this era display the different characteristic
Gujarati features such as direct/oblique noun forms, postpositions, and auxiliary verbs. While
generally known as Old Gujarati¸ many scholars prefer the name of Old Rajasthani, based on
the different opinion that Gujarati and Rajasthani were not distinct yet.
2. Middle Gujarati (AD 1500-1800)
According to Ernst Kausen and Mistry, in this period Gujarati split from Rajasthani language
and develop certain features which are the hall-marks of modern Gujarati such as the phonemes
Ꜫ and ⴢ, the auxiliary stem chh*, and the possessive morphological marker n*. A substantial
amount of literature was created in this period.[4]
3. Modern Gujarati (AD 1800-)
After 1800 Modern Gujarati came into its own and the language and script used till date from
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
148 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
this period. The creation of metal types for printing Gujarati in 1815 saw a growth of literature
and Lexicography as is attested by the first printed book published in 1815 namely “a Gujarati
translation of Dabestan-e Mazaheb” prepared and printed by Parsi priest Fardunjee
Marzban.[4]
Handwriting Analysis
While doing analysis of any evidence including handwriting, we can determine the
characteristics of any object or we can say that every evidence/object has its own
characteristics, and those characteristics can be divided into two:
● Class characteristics.
● Individual characteristics.
Class characteristics are those characteristics that are common to a particular group,for example
the eye colour in humans, according to the eye color, humans can be classified into different
groups and each member of that group will have the same characteristics but they will be
common to all in that class, example: group with eye color black.
Individual characteristics are those characteristics that will be particular to each
evidence/object, and those characteristics would not match with the characteristics of any other
object, example, firing pin marks, tool marks, etc.
Document examiner examines the entire document to understand the source and determine the
authenticity of the document which is disputed. A document expert examines the two types of
characteristics as classic characteristics and individual characteristics. other than
characteristics, there are some factors which affect the handwriting, they can be, Age, Mood,
Time to write, Surface , Writing instrument, Illness, Drink and drugs, Trying to write in
different ways.[11]
Class/ General characteristics: The general or common pattern of handwriting, letters space,
shapes etc. and it is limited to a group, age, language etc.
Some classic characteristics of handwriting:
1. Arrangement: This characteristics is about arrangement of characters/letters, words and
sentences.
2. Alignment: The relation of the difference of the word, signature or written sentence, to
a real or imaginary base line is considered as the alignment.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
149 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
3. Relative size and Proportions: The overall size of writing may decrease or increase but
the regularity to the relative size of one letter to the other letters is near to fixed and it
remains impartially constant.
4. Writing Slants: The inclination slant of letters or strokes of letters with the real or
imaginary baseline is referred to as writing slant.
5. Size: From person to person, the size of writing may be different.
6. Movement: The manner in which the fingers, hand, forearm, or entire hand move to
develop writing is called writing movement or movement in writing. There are some
sub-characteristics of movement available: finger movement, wrist movement, Forearm
movement, Whole-arm movement.[12]
7. Spacing: This characteristic shows the empty space between the letters or words or
lines. Spacing can be studied from three different manners: Spacing between letters,
spacing between words, spacing between lines.
Classic
Characteristics
Sample 1 Sample 2
Slant
Size
Spacing
Individual characteristics: these characteristics are limited to an individual writer. This
characteristic makes handwriting unique from others.
1. Skill level: Skill level can be said as an appreciation of beauty as applied to handwriting.
2. Form: This can be the most basic individual characteristics. Form is a pictorial
representation of a letter or writing movement.
3. Height ratios: Height ratios are a correlation or comparison of the height of an
individual letter or letter segment to another letter, usually within the same word or
signature.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
150 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
4. Loops: this found in a cursively written letter may be symmetrical or may be flat on
one side and therefore be asymmetrical. They may be thin or bulbous. They may be
rounded at the apex or may be sharply pointed like a needle.
5. Pen lifts: The writing implements lifts from the paper, usually interior to a word or
signature.
6. Entry/Exit strokes: The entry and exit strokes of a letter may repeat themselves in
similar letter formations.
7. Retracing: This is the process where in the pen inks a written portion of the line, usually
in the opposite directions, such as a downward movement followed by an upward
movement over the existing line.[13]
Individual
Characteristics
Sample 1 Sample 2
Form
Loops
Pen lift
Pen Pressure
In Gujarati Language, certain individual characteristics can be found that are very peculiar to
each writer.
● Rounding/ looping of the starting two trufs in “ઘ”,
● Looping of the upper part in “ર”,
● Formation and reformation of lines in “ત્ર”
● Recirculating of semicircles in “ઉ”
● Slanting in right or left direction in “ખ”
● Formation of pockets in “ચ”
● Irregularity in forming words including “જ”
● Irregularity in connection in “ગ”ુ
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
151 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
● Connecting stroke or single stroke in “હ”
● Connecting two characters in “સ્ર્”
● Slant and curve in “ણ”
● Loop and curve of the left to center part of “ભ”
● Curve and loop of the left to center part of “અ”
● Curve, connecting stroke or single stroke of the left to center part of “િ”
● Loop and curve of the left to center part of “બ”
● Curve and centered line of the left to center part of “ક”
● Curve, connecting stroke, or reformation and centered line in “ષ”
● Loop and curve in “મ”
● Curve stroke of left part in “ગ”
Result and Discussion
Handwriting plays an important role in linking various crimes as well as solving various civil
cases as well as cases of disputes. But differentiation of handwriting can be a very difficult job
if proper examination is not done for the samples and questioned. Different languages can have
different characteristics depending on their language system and the root from where a
particular language is originated from. Languages originated from the same parent system may
have a little or a lot similarity in their characteristics. But different languages cannot have a
common base therefore no similarity. This paper works on the determination of individual
characteristics in Modern Gujarati language. And for the same, there can be quite a difference
in individual characteristics of certain letters. Changes can be seen in the looping of “ઘ” as
seen in the table below, the changes can be due to the way a writer learns or other factors.
Additionally there are changes in formation loop and curve in strokes in “જ” visible from the
samples compared with the standard. Other characteristics that can be differentiated is
irregularity in loop formation and retracing of stroke in “ર”. Gujarati characters have peculiar
characteristics like reformation of strokes, loop, retracing of a single stroke, regularity or
irregularity in connecting two or more strokes unlike English or other languages. . There are
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
152 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
different connecting strokes in connecting of two different character as a single joint character
like “ત્ર” or “સ્ર્”.
Table showing different characteristics in the Modern Gujarati Language.
Characteristi
cs
Standar
d
sample
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
Formation of
loop in “જ”
જ
Rounding/
looping of
the starting
two trufs in
“ઘ”,
ઘ
Looping of
the upper part
in “ર”
ર
Formation
and
reformation
of lines in
“ત્ર”
ત્ર
Recirculating
of
semicircles in
“ઉ”
ઉ
Slanting in
right or left
direction in
ખ
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
153 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
“ખ”
Irregularity
in forming
“ૐ”
ૐ
Conclusion
Forensic document analysis and examination is one of the important keys to criminal
investigations. Handwriting analysis is the standard forensic method to assess the identification
of a person from the document. Handwriting or signature analysis categories into questioned
document sections in forensic science. Expert Questioned Document Examiners (QDE)
examines the questioned documents. QDE checks for any alteration or forgeries into a
document and compares it with the original document if available. Handwriting can be said as
the individual characteristics, meaning that handwriting is unique for every individual. Every
individual has their own handwriting style. According to experts, some people may have few
common handwriting characteristics but other than that it’s impossible to have more same
handwriting characteristics. It can be said that handwriting is as unique as a fingerprint.
Forensic document experts/ examiner follow the different features related to the movement and
pressure of the fingers and hand. And shape of the different individual characters and the spatial
relationship between them. Forensic document analysis is generally used in the cases of
financial fraud and also in white collar crimes. Everyday many fraud cases are registered from
low level to high level cases. And almost all the cases have motives out of financial gain,
personal purposes. So Handwriting analysis is important and the Gujarati language is most
commonly and officially used language in Gujarat state of India, and is one of the 22 official
languages of India, so all the documents in Gujarat state are mostly in Gujarati, so the
standardization for the purpose of forensic analysis becomes important.
References
[1] Borass H. (1951,20). Photographic Analysis of certain letter forms with respect to speed
changes and stability. J. exp. Educ., pp. 87-96.
[2] Cantrial H., Rand H. A., & Allport G. W. (1933). The determination of personal
interests by psychological and graphological methods. Charac. & Pers., 2, 134-143.
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
154 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
[3] Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2015, April 25). Graphology. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from
Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/graphology
[4] Indian Forensic Organization. (n.d.). Document Forensics. Retrieved 08 03, 2020, from
Indian Forensic Organization:
https://indianforensic.org/questioned_documents.html#:~:text=Class%20characteristic
s%3A%20the%20common%20pattern,This%20makes%20handwriting%20unique.
[5] Karen Kristin Amend, & Mary Stansbury Ruiz. (1980). Hand Writing Analysis - The
Complete Basic Book. New Page Books. Retrieved 07 25, 2020
[6] Kathleen Warren . (2018, 03 18). The psychology of Extraordinary Belief
(Graphology). Retrieved 07 31, 2020, from The Ohio State University (OSU.EDU):
https://u.osu.edu/vanzandt/2018/03/08/graphology/#:~:text=Graphology%2C%20also
%20known%20as%20graphoanalysis,popular%20in%20Europe%2C%20especially%
20France.
[7] Michael Ray. (2019, Aug 2020). Handwriting. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from
Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/handwriting
[8] Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel [NBGP]. (2019, 06 03). Proposal for a Gujarati Script
Root Zone Label Generation Rulset (LGR). Retrieved 07 30, 2020, from icann:
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/proposal-gujarati-lgr-06mar19-en.pdf
[9] Norwitch Document Laboratory. (2019, 06). Individual Characteristics. Retrieved 08
03, 2020, from Norwitch Document Examination:
https://www.questioneddocuments.com/individual-characteristics/
[10] Pen2Paper. (n.d.). The History of handwriting Analysis. Retrieved 07 27, 2020,
from Pen 2 Paper: https://www.pens.co.uk/pen2paper/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Pen2Paper-The-History-of-Handwriting-Analysis.pdf
[11] The British Institute of Graphologists. (n.d.). Graphology Today: The
Relevance of Graphology. Retrieved 07 31, 2020, from The British Institute of
Graphologists Est. 1983: https://www.britishgraphology.org/about-british-institute-of-
graphologists/graphology-today/
[12] The British Institute of Graphologists. (n.d.). The History of Graphology.
Retrieved 07 30, 2020, from The British Institute of Graphology Est. 1983:
https://www.britishgraphology.org/about-british-institute-of-graphologists/the-
history-of-graphology/
[13] The British Institute of Graphologists. (n.d.). What is Graphology. Retrieved 07
30, 2020, from The British Institute of Graphologists Est. 1983:
https://www.britishgraphology.org/about-british-institute-of-graphologists/what-is-
graphology/
[14] Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan. (2013, 10 24). A study to identify the characteristic
features in determining left and right handwritings. Retrieved 08 03, 2020, from
Sodhganga: http://hdl.handle.net/10603/12193
International Medico-Legal Reporter Journal February 2021 ISSN: 2347 - 3525
155 Legal Desire Media & Insights www.legaldesire.com/forensics
[15] Wilkhoo Nirmala. (2015, Aug 11). Handwriting and Personality. Retrieved 07
25, 2020, from Sodhganga: http://hdl.handle.net/10603/46351