Introduction

Handwriting and signatures play a pivotal role in establishing identity, confirming document attribution, and authenticating purpose. A signature, often described as a handwritten representation of an individual's name, holds significant value as evidence in forensic investigations. Handwriting, a complex neuromuscular skill, exhibits substantial variations among individuals, reflecting its uniqueness and authenticity (Thakre and Kumawam, 2024). The uniqueness of signatures is emphasized by their individuality; even when the same person reproduces multiple signatures, subtle variations are consistently present. This variability is an inherent aspect of handwriting, which defines variation as the imprecision in the execution of a writer's habitual patterns. These variations manifest in various attributes such as speed, pressure, slope, and spacing.

The intrinsic variability of handwriting elements, including style, slant, alignment, and spacing, is essential for personalizing and identifying writing. Understanding these primary elements and their variations forms the foundation of accurate handwriting analysis. Moreover, the study of scripts, or the writing systems representing the alphabets of languages, is critical for forensic handwriting analysis. Each script is a symbolic representation of linguistic sounds and may exhibit distinct characteristics (Pal and Rohatgi, 2023) In India, a linguistically diverse country with 22 official languages, script analysis becomes particularly significant. The Brahmi script, one of the oldest known writing systems in ancient India, dates to the first millennium BCE. Modern Indian scripts such as Kannada, predominantly used in Karnataka, and Telugu, the official language of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have evolved from ancient systems like Brahmi and share unique linguistic features.

Kannada and Telugu scripts share commonalities, such as being written from left to right and favouring symmetrical shapes within squared outlines. At the same time, each script retains distinctive characteristics (Sharma et al., 2019). These similarities and differences are vital in forensic examinations, particularly in differentiating handwriting characteristics and authenticating signatures. The study aims to identify class characteristics among these scripts, which is crucial for forensic document examiners in a multilingual and culturally rich country like India. By analysing and comparing scripts with shared origins, forensic experts can enhance the effectiveness of signature and handwriting analysis (Kaurkanewal and Malhotra, 2017).

This research seeks to contribute to the growing field of forensic handwriting analysis by offering insights into script differentiation and their unique characteristics (Kaur et al., 2017). The findings are intended to serve as a foundational resource for forensic document examiners, particularly in the context of India’s linguistic diversity. Such understanding is instrumental in supporting informed conclusions about handwriting and signature authenticity, advancing the precision and reliability of forensic document analysis.