Dactylography or fingerprinting is a time tested method of identification of an individual based on the characteristic feature of the ridges present over fingers, toes or other regions. On the other hand, DNA fingerprinting is comparatively a newer technique which is gaining lot of attention due to the accuracy of its results and smaller sample needed to fix the individual. In the world of Forensic Medicine everyone is over fascinated with DNA fingerprinting but the facts are different at the ground level. This article aims to discuss about the efficacy of dactylography which is a traditional system for identification in any criminal investigation as a more reliable and cost effective method than modern DNA fingerprinting.