Leading forensic science experts from the city and across the country have expressed their inability to gauge correctly the exact age of individuals.

This follows growing requests from various wings of the state government, including the transport department, to determine the exact age of employees seeking retirement or provident fund benefits.

“We keep getting requests from various state government departments and even private organisations. And even after adopting the latest techniques in forensic science, we can only gauge the person’s age in decades,” explains A.K. Gupta, head of department (forensic medicine) at the Medical College and Hospital.

“For instance, we can at best determine if the person sent for examination has crossed 50 or is less than 60. A closer assessment is unreliable and would amount to an opinion only,” Gupta added.

Forensic scientists have rubbished claims by some doctors that the specialised branch of medicine can be used to correctly determine whether a person is 55 or 56 years old at the time of his age-determination test. “That is not only a false claim, but also next to impossible,” said M.S. Rao, chief forensic scientist of the Directorate in Forensic Science, from Delhi.

Experts have called for a concerted effort from all over the country to explain to the government that requests for exact estimation of age must be stopped. “You can calculate an average age, but that, too, is very difficult and almost untrue,” Rao added.

The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, considered a bible by forensic experts and students, clearly states that “doctors’ estimate of the age is not proof but merely an opinion.” The book adds: “The estimation of age becomes more uncertain after the age of 25 years…. It is difficult to achieve an accuracy of even five years. A careful examination of all factors may enable a doctor to make a fair approximation to the decade within which a person may be.” The book says “any closer approximation must be made with considerable reservation.”

Apart from the judiciary, government departments and private groups, the police also keep referring age-determination cases, but are hugely disappointed when they receive a referral of a five-10 year difference.

Forensic experts at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi said the parameters for calculation are extremely unreliable. “Methods such as ectocranial suture closures are used to gauge the age in individuals. But the age gap would be in decades,” said a senior faculty member.