Baba Siddique Killing: What is Ossification Test That Revealed Murder Accused is Not Minor

Mumbai: One of the accused in the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddiqui, who claimed to be a minor, has been determined to be an adult through a bone ossification test on Monday, after the test was conducted on court orders. 

The test was ordered by Mumbai local court, which remanded the accused, Dharmaraj Kashyap, and others to judicial custody until October 21. 

Siddiqui was shot dead outside his office in Mumbai on Saturday night, and two shooters, along with a co-conspirator, were arrested the following Sunday. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the murder, with police confirming it was a contract killing and investigating possible links.

When presented in court, Kashyap, a shooter from Uttar Pradesh, claimed to be 17 years old. However, the prosecution objected, citing an Aadhaar card indicating his birth year as 2003, making him 21 years old. The name on the Aadhaar card was different, and Kashyap lacked a birth certificate or school-leaving certificate to verify his age. The magistrate then ordered a bone ossification test to determine his actual age.

What is an Ossification Test?

• An ossification test is a medical procedure used to estimate a person’s age by analyzing X-rays of their bones to assess the level of growth plate fusion. It is commonly used in legal and forensic contexts when other methods of age verification are unavailable or insufficient.

How It's Performed

• A trained professional, such as a forensic anthropologist, takes X-rays of specific bones, usually from the hands and wrists. They examine these X-rays for signs of ossification, particularly the fusion of growth plates, which indicates skeletal maturity.

Accuracy

• While helpful, ossification tests are not foolproof. The rate of bone ossification can vary greatly between individuals due to factors like genetics, disease, injury, or malnutrition. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that age estimates from these tests can have a margin of error of up to two years in either direction.

Other Uses

• Ossification tests are also employed in medical settings to assess the skeletal development of children with growth disorders.