If during the handling of a piece of documentary evidence, an investigator inadvertently holds the document with bare hands and leaves fingerprints on it, the document should be destroyed and a new copy should be obtained. True or false?

True

Explanation:

A question document is the one whose authorship is unknown. The document can be handwritten or printed. The handwritten document will have peculiar handwritten characteristics that is specific to a author and will help in identification of the author. The printed document will the product of specific machine like typewriter, printer or any other device from which has been generated. The question document can also be looked upon for fingerprints as the hand comes in contact of the paper while writing. The perspiration in hand is likely to leave the ridges on the paper.

Here, the investigator has shown the negligence of holding the documentary evidence with hands. As it is already known that the complete analysis of the documentary evidence involves the written as well as fingerprint content. Thus the collected documentary evidence should be destroyed and a new copy should be obtained.