In a circular dated June 27, 2024, issued by the state’s Health and Family Welfare Department, all medical practitioners were strictly prohibited from conducting the two-finger test. Disciplinary action would be taken against any medical personnel found violating this directive, the directive added.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that anybody who conducts the two-finger test on rape survivors would be guilty of misconduct, and declared the invasive procedure as 'patriarchal and unscientific', which also re-victimises and re-traumatises the women.
A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said it was patriarchal to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped merely because she was sexually active.
A recent judgment by Lahore High Court which, extensively citing Indian judicial verdicts, has termed the so-called ‘virginity tests’ routinely conducted on survivors of rape or sexual assault a ‘blatant violation of the dignity of a woman’ and held them to be unconstitutional.
