Individualistic and morphological characteristics of footprints in a North-West Indian population - Anthropological and forensic implications

Forensic podiatry is considered to be an important sub-discipline of forensic science, as it can provide an estimation of the physical attributes of an unknown individual through pedal evidence such as footprints, shoe prints, and parts of feet. Bare footprints are frequently discovered at crime scenes. Personal identification from unique and individualistic characteristics of bare footprints can assist in addressing various forensic cases. The present study aims to highlight and analyze various individualistic and distinct characters from the footprints of 204 individuals (128 males and 76 females) in a North-West Indian population. Features such as relative lengths of toes revealed that Type I (T1>T2) is commonly found among both the sexes, while Type V (T1=T2≠T3) and Type VII (T1=T3≠T2) are rarely seen. Interspaces between digits inferred the presence of a sixth toe in females, which resulted in the formation of an extra interspace; interspaces I and III are the most frequent in both the sexes. The phalange mark (toe stem) of Toe-5 is most commonly present in footprints. Variations are observed in features such as the shape of the big toe, toe line curvature, crease marks and the presence of several humps. Flatfoot conditions are found to be a rare characteristic of footprints in the present study, with bilateral flatfeet being extremely rare. The distinctive features present in footprints can aid in identifying individuals based on partial or complete footprints found at a crime scene. The study is not only important from a forensic point of view, but may also have implications in the field of anatomy, biological anthropology and human biology.