A Study of the Evidentiary Value of Forensic Handwriting Analysis Expert Opinions

Forensic linguistics is a branch of linguistics that applies the principles of linguistics to solve legal issues. Jan Svartvik, the father of forensic linguistics, was the first to apply his knowledge of linguistics to solve a crime, which gave birth to the discipline of forensic linguistics. Though there are numerous applications of forensic linguistics in criminal investigation, this paper deals with 2 essential applications a) handwriting analysis and b) author attribution with special reference to the ‘Timothy Evans’ Case and the ‘Devil strip’ case. Forensic linguistics and its application have been heavily criticized for being abstract, vague and very subjective in nature making its application very unpredictable. But, one cannot deny the various instances in which it has helped the courts in judging cases. Thus, the paper aims to analyze the position of handwriting expert opinion as evidence in India with reference to various case laws.