A Probabilistic Model for Reconstruction of Torn Forensic Documents

In this paper we present a probabilistic approach to reconstruct a document from its torn pieces which is extremely helpful for the legal system. The method investigates several previously unexplored issues and proposes probabilistic dependencies of different (available) parts (or pieces) of a document. It iteratively calculates the probability of an arrangement subject to some constraints and attempts to produce the best possible configuration (or solution) using low level image statistics. The reconstruction method also ranks different (final) arrangements in order to help decision making process. Two types of data were used in the investigation. A set of documents where documents were torn naturally (as we do it in our daily life) and the second set consisting of documents that were torn to destroy particular evidences. Evaluation shows that the method is quite robust to tackle both the problems.