PATNA: A top medical institute in Patna has dropped a shocker by asking its employees in their marital declaration forms to reveal if they are “virgins” and if they are married to “a person who has no other wife living”.
The management of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), a reputed medical college and hospital in the Bihar capital established in 1983, found itself in a fix after the questionnaire became public on Wednesday. The employees of the institute, who were asked to fill out the questionnaire as part of their “marital declaration”, were shocked by the bizarre questions. Many of them termed the questions as “outrageous” and “sexist”.
The printed form supplied to IGIMS employees asked them to declare, that “I am bachelor/ widower/ virgin;” that “I am married and have only one wife living;” that “I am married to a person who has no other wife living;” that “I am married and have more than one wife;” and that “I am married to a person who has another wife living”.
An IGIMS employee requesting not to be named, “It is an outrageous way of asking people to declare their marital status. The first question is absolutely sexist.”
A shocked woman employee of the institute said, “Do they want to know how pure their present and future employees are? By clubbing “bachelor, widower and virgin” together in one column, they certainly want to know if their unmarried women employees have had premarital sex.”
Manish Mandal, IGIMS medical superintendent, however, denied that the use of the word “virgin” in the forms intended to know about women’s premarital sexual habits.
“The marital declaration form has unfortunately sent out wrong impressions. IGIMS follows the rules and regulations of AIIMS in accordance with the central services rules,” said Mandal. “The word ‘virgin’ in the form does not seek to know about virginity. It simply refers to unmarried women,” he added.
Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey said there was “absolutely no problem” with IGIMS’s questionnaire.