A role of digital imaging in identification of unidentified bodies.

ABSTRACT

Unidentified and unclaimed bodies for medico-legal autopsy has shown increased trend. Relatives of unidentified bodies suffer a lot of psychological trauma and also suffer in settling insurance, inheritance and pension claims. When an unidentified body has injuries on face, then photograph of such deceased is not accepted by print or electronic media for publication as such photograph may cause distress to the viewers. This study was conducted on three cases of unidentified and unclaimed bodies brought for medico-legal autopsy with facial injuries making their photographs unfit for publication in print or electronic media. Photograph of the deceased face was taken; image was transferred to a computer and by using Adobe Photoshop software CS2 and the injuries present on face were removed. The result showed that in all the three cases we could establish the identity by digital imaging. Relatives of the deceased could identify their missing relative by photograph shown to them after removal of injuries. Later on police confirmed the identification by using other methods of establishing identity. This method can be an aid in identification of unidentified bodies presented with facial injuries.