The Supreme Court on Monday said that any person found conducting the banned two-finger test on a woman who claims she has been raped will be found guilty of misconduct, reported Bar and Bench.
The two-finger test is a practice where the doctor notes the presence or absence of the hymen and the size of the vagina to assess whether girls and women are “virgins” or “habituated to sexual intercourse”, according to the Human Rights Watch organisation. In 2013, the Supreme Court had banned the test, The Hindu reported.
At Monday’s hearing, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli, however, said that such tests were being conducted even today, Live Law reported.
“This court has time and again deprecated the use of two finger test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault,” the judges said. “The so called test has no scientific basis. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women. The two finger test must not be conducted.”
The court also said that the two-finger test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually-active woman cannot be raped, reported Bar and Bench.
“It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped merely because she is sexually active,” the bench said.
The judges directed the Centre and the states to ensure the test is not conducted. They also asked the health secretaries of the states to conduct a review of curriculums in all government and private medical colleges and have the study materials on two-finger test removed.
The bench also directed the Union health ministry to conduct workshops for health service providers to communicate the appropriate procedure for examining the survivors of sexual assault.
The Supreme Court made the observations while hearing an appeal filed against an order passed by the Telangana High Court, which overturned the conviction of an accused person by a trial court in a rape case. The top court restored the conviction of the man.