Burning of documents is one of the methods used by the perpetrators to destroy the evidence. Three decades before, liquid inks of different colours were used for writing the documents, therefore, according to that the techniques were developed for deciphering the written matter on charred/burned documents written with these inks. Now, the liquid inks have been replaced by either viscous inks or gel based inks, which are used in ball point pens and gel pens respectively. Accordingly, present study has been undertaken to decipher the ball point pen writings on the papers charred at six different temperatures viz. 210ºC, 220ºC, 230ºC, 240ºC, 250ºC, 270ºC. The study involves the use of ammonia solution for deciphering the writing on the experimentally charred documents.

Keywords: Charred/Burnt Documents; Decipherment; Ammonia Solution; Forensic Document Examination.