Forensic Expert extends help to estimate the age of
suspected Juvenile involved in Delhi
Gang-rape case
Dr Jayakumar Jayaraman, an expert in Forensic age assessment
has extended his willingness to estimate the age of the suspected juvenile in Delhi rape case. He is
involved in this field of research for more than 5 years and he is working with
the Dental Age Assessment Team (DAAT) in London,
United Kingdom.
He is recently appointed as a representative to the United Nations from a
Brazilian organization where he works for Age Assessment for Climate Change
Refugees. Dr Jayakumar is currently pursuing Doctorate degree in theUniversity
of Hong Kong
Dr Jayakumar
Jayaraman ( Pudukkottai, Tamilnadu)
Background
In the Delhi gang-rape case,
there is no clear indication on the exact age of the juvenilewho claims his age
as 17 years and 6 months years. Following this, the court has inquired
the possibilities for finding the exact age of the suspect.
Principal of the school where the
suspect attended earlier was asked to witness the age but
there exists controversy as the age recorded in the school was a testimony
given by his parents and not based on authentic birth certificate. In this
situation, the court has asked the authorities to assess the age by obtaining a
bone scan which Dr Jayakumar claims is old-fashioned method. He also disagree
the use of bones for age assessment since they are highly influenced by
environmental modifications.
Alternatively, Dr Jayakumar proposes a method which could
accurately estimate the age
from analysis of the suspect’s dental development. This
method was developed by the Dental Age Assessment Team in London
where age estimation has been conducted for more than 1000 children and
juveniles seeking asylum in the United
Kingdom. He shares his views on importance
of age assessment and on the current and ongoing issue of age estimation of
a juvenile in Delhi Gang-rape case.
What is Age Assessment?
Age Assessment is a process by which an age is established
from evaluating development
of an individual. This procedure is conducted in cases where
there is lack of an authentic
birth certificate document or a dispute in the claimed age.
Most often age is estimated from the skeletal or dental development and the
latter is preferred as they are least subjected to changes from environment and
nutrition.
Can you explain your field of
research?
The Dental Age Assessment Team (DAAT) in London has established an accurate and
reliable method of age assessment. I particularly work on
analyzing dental development
of Chinese population in Hong Kong.
We have collaborators in United Kingdom,
United States, Australia, Caribbean islands and also in India. This
research aims at recording dental development patterns of different
identifiable human groups. As for now, the database we created consists of
10000 plus subjects from different ethnicity. To date, this is the most
comprehensive reference data available in the world. Another importance of our
method is that it has been subjected to validation and proved accurate at
different age thresholds. In order to provide an age for an individual, his or
her dental development will be analyzed from a radiograph and the corresponding
scores obtained from the database. We use a unique mathematical computation
called meta-analysis which provides mean age with a range at different
confidence intervals.
What is your view on bone
density test to be taken for the juvenile in the Delhi rape case?
Skeletal age assessment process is inaccurate and there is
sufficient scientific evidence
to prove this fact. The main reason is that they are easily
modified by environmental
and nutritional changes. For example, in case of Vitamin D
deficiency, skeletal tissues
were affected resulting in varying growth patterns; however,
dental development remains
unaltered. Lack of comprehensive reference data is also a
possible reason which could result in unrealistic age estimates. The most
commonly used skeletal age assessment method is from wrist bones development
and the standards developed for this purpose is more than 50 years old. This
method of age estimation has been seriously criticized across the globe and
many countries, including Australia
have recently with held this method of age assessment.
Hence, age assessed from bone
development would not result in accurate estimate of age.
What are the other problems
associated with poor birth registration?
The lack of age proof document has various forensic and
legal implications. In western
countries, this has affected the immigration process
following false asylum claims. Delays commonly occur in processing the asylum
status whether they should be treated as children or adults, especially when
they borderline cases. The immigrants may become antisocial elements to the
host country challenging the stability of communities and they become a drain
in the economy. Whether they are a child or an adult, the country has to spend
purely because it is the responsibility of the country to provide welfare and
provisional care. In the year 2010, around £2 billion has been spent by the
United Kingdom Border Agency for the welfare of asylum seekers. Similarly, the
Australian government has spent over one billion Australian dollars, four times
higher the amount spent in the year 2009.
What is your view on the legal authorities concern to
reduce the “age of majority” to 16 years?
In a legal scenario, there are different ages of
medico-legal importance. For example, In
India
the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) has been set at 7 years. It
means that a child under 7 years cannot be charged for any criminal action
because law identifies that at this age, the mental capacity of the child is
not “well” established to commit a crime. Conversely, in the United Kingdom,
the MACR is fixed at 10 years. The ages of criminal responsibilities expands to
18 years of age and includes other legal considerations including age
limitation to consume alcohol, consent to have sex, right to vote, right to
work and to marry. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) defines a child as “any person below the age of eighteen years” (CRC,
Art. 1) and this applies to all the 193 countries which has ratified this
treaty, including India.
This age is also called ‘Age of majority” that entitles an individual to enjoy
the benefit of an adult under legal circumstances.
In this context, in India, there is a tremendous
increase in the number of juveniles arrested for crime. According to the
Ministry of Home Affairs, in the year 2011 alone, more than 21000 juveniles
aged 16 to 18 years have been arrested for criminal charges. The number of
cases charged for rape in 2010 was exceedingly high, atleast thrice than those
filed in the year 2001. Considering poor
birth registration and growing increase of crimes has given an indication that
the need for age assessment would become mandatory in the years to come.
Lowering the “Age of majority” to 16 years would be just a
transient solution to the existing Delhi
Gang-rape issue; however, the problems associated in this age threshold would
still remain the same.
How would your field of
research benefit India?
According to the UNICEF, in India, only 49% of children were
registered at birth. Although the Birth and Death Acts 1969 configures this as
a human right and encourages registration,this has not been followed across the
state. The risks of undocumented birth date includes marriage at an early age,
forced labor, enlistment in armed forces and if accused of crime,prosecution as
an adult and vice-versa. This has also resulted in falsified testimonials of age
when a child wants to enroll in a school or work in a factory. Although the
government had taken steps to ensure that every birth gets registered, there is
a practical problem in registering the births in rural places as most often,
delivery of babies do not occur in the hospital setting. This results in a
serious setback for registering all the births in India.
Although the Government of India’s National Population
Policy has set the target to achieve 100% birth registration by 2010, the
UNICEF’s statistics published in 2011 acknowledges that birth registration is
still around 50%. This infers that millions of children in India haveno
birth record and there is a vulnerability of these children to involve in
criminal activitiesand escape with false age documents. Anticipating these
problems in advance, our method of assessment can help provide age for these
children. The age provided by us would then serve as their legal identity
document which can be legally used in any circumstances. Moreover,the
Government of India must embark on strict policies to register every birth
occurring in India.
What will you require if you
were to estimate the age of Delhi-Gang rape suspect?
I will be delighted to involve in this case and estimate the
age of the suspect. With a written consent, we will be obtaining few
radiographs to evaluate the development pattern of the suspect’s third molars.
The scores corresponding to each tooth and the stage of development will be
obtained from the DAAT database. Using statistical analysis, we will be able to
provide “mean” age with upper and lower age limits at certain confidence
intervals. The estimated age can be used at the court of law. We can also
provide sufficient documentary evidence to support our method of age assessment
which is universally accepted, published extensively and well received by the
scientific community. Scientific research is all about integrating the findings
of the research into practice. I am looking forward to introduce our method in India which
could benefit the children and the country.
By Panneerselvan athiba
Dr Jayakumar's email Id : drjayhk@hotmail.com
