Significance of Reverse Side Analysis in Revealing Interpolation as Well as Relative Age of Writings – Illustration through Forensic Examination of Documents

Letters, figures or words are sometimes fraudulently added to a contract or other legal documents after it has been signed or produced. This can drastically change the intent of the document. It is more difficult to detect additions that are skillfully added to a document than erasures. It becomes the task of the document examiner to determine if the addition or alteration was made after the document was executed or these were the part and parcel of the document earlier. The forensic document experts can examine, detect and interpret the evidence of alteration by means of additions/insertions, as well as relative age of writings and spuriousness of the documents even in the absence of samples. Besides examining the different types of forgery involved in the writings/ signatures, the ink of the writings, misalignment between the letters, figures, words as well as lines, crowdedness of the writing, rhythm of the writing, detection and analysis of indented and other accidental markings in the front as well as back side of the document under observation need to be carefully and thoroughly examined. In this study, the systematic method of identification of fraudulent nature of the document with respect to alteration by means of additions/ insertions/interpolation, as well as relative age of writings are discussed.


Introduction
Nowadays, forensic document examiners are dealing with fraud cases in which fraudsters are continuously exploiting and developing new methods to cheat both individual and various organizations. In some of the cases it has been observed that alterations are done in such a way that it is difficult for layman to identify these alterations but their impact is so high which changes the nature and intent of the document thus produced in order to cheat the innocent person(s) or organization(s).
A large number of crime case exhibits such as wills, agreements, contracts, receipts, mortgages, deeds of land, insurance applications, financial agreements; ledgers, pecuniary records, anonymous letters, etc. are submitted for forensic examination and opinion. In some of the document problems it has been observed that some part of the document has been added subsequently which all together alters the nature and purpose of the document. In such type of cases mainly following questions arises -Whether any addition/ alteration has taken place in the document, if yes, which part/portion is added and when. In characteristics. Actually, all the elements help to identify it, but the most unusual have the greatest importance which is discussed in this case study.

Methods
Documents related to agreements, sale deeds, wills, contracts, etc. are generally submitted for examination and opinion with a query -whether any addition 2 has been made in some part of the writings and if, yes where & when?. In the present case study systematic method of examination has been discussed.

Case 1
The tint and luster of the inks of the original writings vis-à-vis altered strokes/writings by means of additions do not show any significant difference and even spectral comparator is unable to differentiate inks between the two groups.
In the aforesaid problem the document i.e. red enclosed writings marked Q1 (Figure 1) was examined with a query regarding age of the words "As a Tetent" vis-à-vis rest of the writings in the red enclosed portion marked Q1. The front as well as back side of this document have been scientifically examined in the light of aforesaid parameters and following oddities were observed:  A discontinuity in the writing rhythm for the words "As a Tetent" in the red enclosed portion marked Q1 has been observed (Figure 1).
 The intensity of impressions on the reverse side of the sheet of the red enclosed portion marked Q1 shows differences for the words "As a Tetent" vis-à-vis rest of the writings in the red enclosed portion marked Q1 as shown in

Case 2
The tint and luster of the inks of the original writings vis-à-vis altered strokes/writings by means of additions show significant differences.
In this sample problem the document i.e. red enclosed writings marked QA (Figure 3) was examined with a query regarding age of the words "towards  The intensity of impressions on the reverse side of the sheet of the red enclosed portion marked QA shows differences for the words "towards Rent" vis-à-vis rest of the writings in the red enclosed portion marked QA as shown in Figure 4.

Discussion
The aforesaid examination reveals that besides general observation, such as

Conclusion
The authors are of the strong view that the reverse side of documents have as much as importance as the front side and this side should also be examined in ink, pen pressure, writing rhythm and spacing between letters 9 , words, figures, etc. may be examined to solve these problems.