While original documents are preferred, we can work with photocopies, if they are of good quality. A Forensic Document Examiner would prefer always to examine original documents but there is rarely the case, we receive original documents. In this day and age of electronics it is a challenge to determine the origin of the documents received. In most cases the origin of the document is not in question but the authenticity of the signature scribed. Even when you have access to an original signature, if you were to copy and paste that signature into the document, there are details that will give the attempt to forgery away.

You can generally give an opinion with as little as 2 or 3 samples, but more samples and close to the date of the questioned signature, is always better.

All forensic document examiners have to qualify each time in a court of law by decision of the judge. Once the court accepts an expert’s qualifications, their opinions are admissible as evidence under section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1960.

Handwriting analysis studies personality traits, where a document examiner uses scientific methods to evaluate handwriting for forensic purposes. There two different fields.

It depends on the case. Magnification is almost always used, whether with a computer program or a stereo microscope. We also use photography, and various lighting and measuring techniques and equipment.

• The type of pattern
• Core
• Delta
• Ridge counting
• Ridge tracing
• Ridge characteristics (Ridge characteristics are the endings of ridges, fork or bifurcation, dot, island etc.)

Whenever specimen thumb impressions are required to be taken for purposes of comparison, it is advisable to take them as fully rolled impressions with printer’s ink (as is used in Sub-Registrar’s office) on plain white paper. At least three to four impressions be obtained. Along with the rolled impressions, plain impressions may also obtain to facilitate comparison. Where it is not certain as to which finger or thumb the disputed impression belongs, it is advisable to take impression of all the ten fingers and then marked properly as of right or left hand.

For convenience sake the forgeries could be classified as follows:

• Merely signing the name or putting the name of a person without making any attempt to show any similarity with the genuine signature of that person.
• Forging signature by copying or simulating the genuine signature either with the help of a studying the model or from memory.
• Forging the signatures by tracing with the help pencil outline carbon outlines or indentation or directly tracing by putting over a genuine signature.
• Stamp lifting. Many times, the signatures appear either on one or two revenue stamps. In such cases, the stamps affixed on the original documents are lifted/removed from that document and are affixed to any other documents.
• Using genuine signature on a blank paper: In such cases, the signature of a person already appears on the blank paper and body writing or a text of the document is subsequently written.
• The signatures mentioned under item no.2 above are generally classified as “Simulated or Copied forgeries.
• The signatures mentioned under item no.3 are called “Traced forgeries”.
• Each kind of forgery has its own characteristics and therefore the disputed signatures first should be examined by themselves to see whether they show any inherent sign of forgery or genuineness and then can be compared them with the standard signatures to find out whether they agree in their handwriting characteristics pointing to the same writer or otherwise.

There are various scientific ways of examining the documents depending on the problem involved in each case.

• Reflected light examination: This is the most formal type of examining the documents. In this case, the document is examined with the help of various types of magnifying lenses in normal light.
• Transmitted light examination: In this case the light is passed through the document. The document is held against the source of light, by which the light passes through the document. This kind of examination of the document is done while examining the traced forgeries, erasures etc.
• Side light Examination : In this type of examination the light is passed from one side, parallel to the surface of paper. If there is any erasure on the document disturbing the fibres of the surface of the paper, it can be easily detected with the help of side light examination.
• Ultra Violet Rays Examination: Whenever there is any alleged chemical erasure in any document, the Ultra Violet Rays examination is of immense help to determine whether there is any chemical erasure.

In India, the percentage of literacy being very small, the most common problems of the execution of a document centre round the thumb impression, which is put on it either as executants or as a witness. The science of finger prints admittedly being perfect and very accurate, positive opinion could be expressed, about the identity or non identity of the finger impressions, no matter whether the impression is of a thumb, right or left or of any other finger. The identifying characteristics of a finger print are nature made and once they develop, they are not liable to change or vary in their identifying value till the skin decomposes. However, in spite of the Science of Finger Impressions being accurate each case may have its own limitation due to the impression being blurred or partly printed or due to any other reasons. The photos and micro photo enlargements have greatly helped in solving many complicated problems in the branch of Finger prints.

No, forensic document examination does not develop information about personality. There is a separate field of study called “Graphology” which deals with personality and handwriting.

Contrary to popular belief, there are three things that cannot be reliably ascertained by examining handwriting. One of those is the “handedness” of the writer. The other two things are the author’s gender and age

Rarely. Some writer’s style of writing is a mix of cursive and printed forms, thereby allowing the examiner to carry out some level of examination on either cursive or printed writing. There are also many factors other than letter formation that enter into the examination and analysis process. However, it is generally accepted that the materials to be compared need to be written in the same style: cursive to cursive, hand printing to hand printing, upper case to upper case, lower case to lower case, and one of the first steps in methodology is to determine that the materials provided are indeed comparable according to the principle ‘Like Compare Like’.

One who studies for a two-year period under the tutelage of a mentor, recognized as an expert in the field; the discipline of handwriting analysis and document examination with a scientific approach, then applying that science to law.

Deciding if a Signed Document has been Forged is the task of a Judge. Providing the evidence for that decision is the task of Handwriting Expert or Forensic Document Examiner

Evidence that one signature on a Legal Document is a Forgery makes the whole document invalid.

A document could be disputed on more than one count and it is not possible to lay down exactly any general rule regarding them. A genuineness of the signature or body writing of the document is one of the most common problems involving identification in a disputed document. To add to this sequence of writing and signature, identification of ink, age of document, erasures etc. are also various factors, which are involved either in combination or singly. Whenever a document is disputed particularly in respect of handwriting there arises the necessity of known writing called the “STANDARDS”. For comparison the ‘Standards’ could be:-

• Writing or signatures made in usual course of business and
• Writing or signatures made of the request or dictation etc.

The correctness of the opinion would much depend on the proper standards made available for comparison. The “Best standards’ could be those which are

• made in usual course of business
• extended over length of period
• as far as possible post litem mortem of the disputed
• of the same class.

If however, the above kind of writing or signatures are not available then request writings or writings made to dictation could also serve the purpose.

There are various characteristics, which describe a particular handwriting and each individual normally has his own handwriting characteristics, which persist in normal circumstances throughout his writing, of course within the range of ‘normal variation’. Some of the main handwriting characteristics could be mentioned as

• Speed,
• Slant,
• Spacing,
• Shading,
• Size,
• Style,
• Pen position,
• Pen lifts,
• Pen pressure,
• Pictorial effect,
• Proportion of letters,
• Movement,
• Alignment,
• Line quality
• Formation of letters etc,

which are looked in identification of handwriting. Of course all these characteristics may not be relevant in each and every case of handwriting identification. The value of these characteristics depends on each and every case independently.

Broadly speaking patterns of finger prints are divided into four main types:-

• Arches
• Loops
• Whorls
• Composites

These are also further subdivided from the identification and classification point of view.

• A person can not make two signatures mathematically identical/ exactly alike. If the two signatures are found to be super imposing over each other then one of them or both of them could be traced forgeries.
• Similarly a person cannot write better than his normal skill.
• The disputed and the comparatives should always be in same script.

Normally signatures should be compared with signatures and the writings should be compared with writings. However, if signature is in writing style then in such cases the signatures can be compared with the writings.

The identification of typewritten matter also falls within the purview of the expert, though it may be seen that typewriters particularly of the same make and model are likely to give the same impression, still in actual practice it has been proved that the individual typewriters have individual characteristics in their impressions either due to the defect in manufacturing process or due to wear and tear which develops peculiar defects individual to each typewriter. As such, in anonymous letters where the typewriting is one of the common sources, the examination of the material is likely to lead to positive results. So, also in cases of typewritten additions and interpolations, there have been various cases where the identification of typewritten matter has played great part in the Law Courts.

Many a times, the question of identification of ink on the written document or additions or alterations or erasures are likely to be involved in a disputed document. There are various methods by which the inks could be identified or distinguished. The Ultra Violet Rays also play an important part in the identification of ink, erasures etc. Similarly papers could also be identified and distinguished by the chemical examination of fibres, sizing, thickness, colour etc. The identification or inks and papers in a disputed document plays an important part in determining the genuineness or otherwise of a disputed document.

Similarly the lead of a pencil can be microscopically examined to ascertain about the similarity or dissimilarity of the pencil used in the two writings.

Yes, it is possible, but the examiner must first learn about the characteristics of the written language and how that writing is taught. For example, in some languages, placement of diacriticals (distinguishing strokes) is important and in other languages, shading of handwritten strokes is significant. The actual methods of examination are the same, but factors are weighed differently when the structure of the writing varies among languages. But, if the material on both counts is similar, then examination becomes easy to an examiner.

This question must be answered on a case by case basis. If the copy is of good quality and if there is enough information in the writing to allow an opinion, then an identification can be work out. But there are some situations where the opinion rests on a subtle aspect of the writing that might only be visible on an original. In such situations, examination of the original is critical. Often the examiner’s opinion must be qualified due to limitations on the examination process due to submission of non-original documents.

There is a wide range in reproduction quality of faxed documents. The fax process could digitize the writing line, obscure details, and add flaws to the document. However, there is also a process of electronic faxing in which a document is scanned and transmitted to a virtual fax number through the internet. As a result there are some faxed documents of improved clarity and containing more detail. It is best to evaluate faxed documents on a case-by-case basis.

The most important factor in any document examination is the quality of the standards documents of known origin that are compared with the questioned documents. The questioned document is important too, but it is a “given”. It defines the outer limits of the examination, but how far the examiner can go within those limits depends on the standards.There must be no doubt about the authenticity of the standards. The document examiner needs to be able to rely on the standards and the standards may need to be accepted as evidence in court. Within the bounds of reason, there cannot be too many standards. Every handwriting shows natural variation. In cases where varying letter forms is an issue, if the examiner doesn’t see enough standard writing, he or she will not have the information needed to form a good opinion. Typewriting cases often depend on identification of some individualizing defect of a machine. Defects can be sporadic, especially in their developmental stages. A few lines of typing or a quick run through the alphabet will not yield enough material to reveal the real character of the typing element.

The question arises, how much is enough? There is not an “across the board” answer. There are unusual cases where one or two signatures or a few typewritten lines will suffice. It all depends on the nature of the question.

There are two types of standards: collected and requested. Collected standards are those already in existence that the attorney or investigator collects. They may be bank records, letters, legal forms and the like. Requested standards are those that the subject is requested to give to facilitate the document examination.

The best standards are those that most closely emulate the timeframe, circumstances, materials and content of the questioned document. Therefore, look for collected standards executed close in time to the questioned document. This is especially critical in cases involving illness, death, accident, mental imbalance, substance abuse, or anything likely to cause a dramatic change in the subject’s behavior. Try to obtain standards written under similar conditions.

There is a method for obtaining good requested standards. In a handwriting case the material to be written should be dictated to the subject, rather than copied by the subject.