NEW DELHI (Web Desk) – Plans to reintroduce a so-called ‘two finger test’ to find out whether rape victims in India are sexually active have been condemned.
The Delhi government issued an advisory to hospitals that stated the per vaginal (PV) examination, which activists claim can result in women being judged on their character, could be carried out if they give their consent, the Daily Mail reported.
The test was banned in 2014 after the Supreme Court, in 2013, ruled that it violates the woman’s right to privacy.
Today the government withdrew the circular amid criticism and said action will be taken against the officer who issued it, according to The Times of India.
It described the complete ban of the test as a ‘constraint’, adding: ‘(Banning) may not only prove detrimental to her health but may also result in injustice.’
Activists argue the unreliable and invasive test on a rape victim is a second assault on an already traumatised woman.
The test requires a doctor to insert two fingers into a women’s vagina, apparently to determine whether the victims are virgins or are used to sexual intercourse.
They believe it helps them to judge whether the hymen has been recently torn or if the women is already sexually active, but activists state this is unfair and unreliable.
The Union Health Ministry decided to make the finger test optional in March 2011 stating that it should only be carried out if the doctor finds it necessary and only with the consent of the victim.
Rape remains a major issue in India with a number of high-profile cases sparking international calls for more action.
Official statistics say about 25,000 rapes are committed every year in India, a nation of 1.2 billion people.
Public protests after the fatal gang rape of Jyoti Singh on a Delhi bus in December 2012 jolted many in the world’s second most populous country out of apathy and forced the government to enact stiffer penalties on gender crimes.
Since then, voracious reporting by the media, campaigns by the government and programmes by civil society groups have brought greater public awareness of women’s rights and emboldened more victims to come forward and register abuses.
In many small towns and villages, most cases still go unreported due to the shame and stigma attached to rape in these conservative societies, where the victim is often blamed.
In some villages, local councils act as de facto courts, often ordering rape to punish women.
In January 2014, a 20-year-old woman in West Bengal state was gang-raped by 13 men on the orders of a village court as punishment for having a relationship with a man from a different community.
While in March this year, a 74-year-old nun was gang raped by six men at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in West Bengal state’s Nadia district.
