Sibling and non-sibling fingerprints comparison of Pakhtun population of Swat district, KP, Pakistan

Background: Fingerprint and other ridges are considered to be the best forensic science tool for identification of humans, alive or dead, and even for decomposed bodies. These fingerprint ridges exhibit various static features throughout life which reflect the person biology. This branch gained immense importance since the past few decades in congenital abnormality. This study was to carry out fingerprints analysis of sibling and non-sibling for differentiation and gender identification.Methods: A total of 80 pairs of fingerprints (1600 prints) were collected from persons aged 15 to 30 years using rolling method. Out of which 20 pairs were brother-brother, 20 were sister-sister, 20 were brother-sister and 20 Pairs were random. Each fingerprint was analyzed for the gender identification on the basis of minutiae, ridge density and types. All the fingerprints were analysed using ACE-V method. After comparison SPSS software was used for further analysis.Results: Our result showed that the types of fingerprints identified was whorl (50%) followed by loop (45.25%), arch (4.5%) and 0.25% of the accidental type. The dominant type was whorl while accidental was the least common type of fingerprints. Statistical analysis showed that between the groups, brother-brother and sister-sister was significant while rest of the groups was not significant. Moreover, greater ridge density was observed in female as compared to male.Conclusion: It is concluded that the sibling fingerprints had greater similarity as compared to non-sibling, however both male and female fingerprints were significantly different in term of ridges density. This study may be useful in crime scene investigation.Keywords: Forensics; Fingerprint ridge density; Fingerprint type; Gender identification