Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : September 12, 2013 10:46 AM IST
To resolve the confusion over the age of one of the accused of the Shakti Mills case the government is considering a age determining bone test to determine his real age. The family of accused have furnished a birth certificate issued by the BMC which shows that he s a minor. On the other hand his school leaving certificate is completely scribbled over and unreadable.
State home secretary Amitabh Rajan told DNA, All this has created confusion... We want to resolve this and, hence, we are conducting the bone test. We want to make the case as watertight as possible. All possible medical tests will be conducted, wherever required.We don t want to leave any loopholes that will give the accused room to escape the harshest punishment, Rajan added.
The state government has decided to bear all the expenses in the case, including medical and legal. Sources said the five accused were taken to JJ hospital and Nagpada Police Hospital last week for conducting an array of medical tests. The accused were referred to the urology department for sexual potency tests and to the psychiatry department for evaluation of their mental status, at JJ hospital. But how do age determination tests work? And more importantly are they accurate? (Is it time to change our juvenile laws?)
What is the bone ossification test?
Bone ossification test: This is the one of the tests that media reports claim that the rapist is to undergo. In this test the technician looks to find out how far the person s bones have ossified (fused). Infants have 350 bones and they subsequently fuse into 206 bones by the time someone turns 25. And the different stages of the fusing of bones can give indications of their real age. The table below explains the changes in bone ossification for a particular age bracket:
Age | Change in bones |
Birth to 5 years | Secondary ossification centres appear in the epiphyses |
5 years to 12 years in females, 5 to 14 years in males | Ossification is spreading rapidly from the ossification centres and various bones are becoming ossified |
17 to 20 years | Bone of upper limbs and scapulae becoming completely ossified |
18 to 23 years | Bone of the lower limbs and os coxae become completely ossified |
23 to 25 years | Bone of the sternum, clavicles, and vertebrae become completely ossified |
By 25 years | Nearly all bones are completely ossified |
Some of the common bones used to determine the age of a person are as below:
However, this test can t be taken as conclusive. An X-ray ossificationtest may provide a surer basis for determining the age of an individual with the opinion of a medical expert, but it can by no means be so infallible and accurate a test as to indicate the correct number of years and days he has lived.
Bone marrow test
The bone marrow test is far more accurate than others. It can predict a person s age within a margin of six months to one year while other tests have a two year gap. Basically, the bone marrow is of two types red marrow (ossium rubra) which consists of mainly hematopoietic cells and yellow marrow(medulla ossium) which is mainly made up of fat cells. At birth, all bone marrow cells are red and with age they progressively convert to yellow marrow. An analysis of the ratio of red marrow to yellow marrow is an easy way to reliable discern a person s age.
Some other tests are:
Dental Examination: Dental records are commonly used to determine age, since the wearing down of teeth correlates with how long a person has been living and eating. Another indicator is the presence of the wisdom teeth. Their presence has a huge bearing on determining the age of a person.
Complex Method: It includes analysis of the pubic bones that lie just under the navel and some vertebral bones. Both the pubic bone and some vertebrae are rougher during the infant ages but start to become smooth as people age.
All these tests however can only determine the age of a person accurately within a 2-year margin.
With inputs from DNA
