NEW DELHI: Deprecat ing the regressive and invasive ‘two-finger test’ conducted on rape survivors, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to ensure the abhorrent practice is stopped forthwith. A bench of judges D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said the prevaginum test, purportedly conducted to determine whether the survivor is sexually active, has no scientific basis and instead revictimises women who may have been raped.
Expressing concerns over the continuation of the practice despite the same being declared as violative of the survivors’ right to privacy, integrity, and dignity by the top court in 2013, the bench said it is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman can’t be believed when she states that she was raped, just because she is sexually active.
“The two-finger test or pre vaginum test must not be conducted,” the SC said, adding that anyone who does the test while examining a survivor shall be guilty of misconduct. “Whether a woman is “habituated to sexual intercourse” or “habitual to sexual intercourse” is irrelevant for the purposes of determining whether the ingredients of Section 375 of the IPC are present in a particular case.
The so-called test is based on the incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing could be further from the truth – a woman’s sexual history is wholly immaterial while adjudicating whether the accused raped her.
Further, the probative value of a woman’s testimony does not depend upon her sexual history,” it added. The bench also directed the Union and state government to circulate the guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to all government and private hospitals. The directions came during the hearing of a plea against the Jharkhand HC’s January 2018 ruling of acquitting a man convicted for rape and murder
‘Review medical schools curriculum’
SC called for reviewing curriculum in medical schools to ensure that the two-finger test is not prescribed as one of the procedures to be adopted while examining rape survivors