Secular Changes on Stature Reconstruction from Hand and Foot Dimensions among Sikhs of Delhi

In forensic investigation, there are difficulties in stature and gender estimation of bodies dismembered in mass destruction and criminal mutilation. An individual’s hand or foot, when recovered and brought for forensic examination, can provide valuable information about a person’s identity. Stature provides insight into various features of a population, including nutrition, health and genetics, geographical location, environment and climatic condition. Stature estimation remains a constant challenge for forensic anthropologists because of secular changes in stature due to allometric changes in long bones, and migrations of world populations. In the forensic literature a considerable attention has been paid in regard to stature estimation from long bones. But little attention has been received on secular changes in hand and foot dimensions in a homogenous population with similar climatic adaptation over the years. The present study deals with the comparison of hand length and foot length along with stature among male and female Sikhs of the Delhi region in two different time frames i.e., 1998-2015 (16 years). Both studies were compared to see the secular changes in these parameters. The results show that in the year 2015, a negative secular trend is observed in the mean value of stature among both male and female Sikhs, thereby indicating their weaker socioeconomic, environmental and biological parameters. No marked secular changes have been observed in hand and foot dimensions over the years. This indicates that hand and foot dimensions are genetically driven as negligible differences could be observed in their mean values.