Determination of Age and Sex by Human Sternum : An Anthropometric Study

The scope of forensic medicine has increased manifold with industrialisation, urbanisation, rural development and increasing population. Consequently, there is a steady increase in crime rate such as assault, murder, and not to forget accidents, natural calamities and mass disasters like shipwreck, air crash.One of the most important task of a forensic expert when called upon is to fix the partial identity in terms of age and sex of an unfortunate victim, that too with the help of only a single bone or at times its fragmentary remains.Various bones such as skull, pelvis and femur have been studied in order to identify age and sex of the deceased. The age and sex determination of sternum has been studied by various experts in India and abroad. In India, work has been mainly carried out in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, other North Indian regions and North Karnataka(India).