Any individual conducting the two-finger test on a rape victim will be held guilty of misconduct, the Supreme Court warned on Monday and directed the Centre and States to ensure that the regressive and invasive practice is not conducted.
The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said a decade-old decision of the top court had held the invasive “two-finger test” as a violation of a woman’s dignity and privacy. The ‘two-finger test’ is conducted on victims of sexual assault and rape to determine whether they are habituated to sexual intercourse.
The apex court overturned a decision of the Jharkhand High Court acquitting a rape and murder convict Shailendra Kumar Rai alias Pandav Rai and upheld a decision of a trial court holding him guilty and awarding him life sentence.
The Bench noted that while examining the victim, the medical board of the Sadar Hospital at Deoghar in Jharkhand conducted the two-finger test to determine whether she was habituated to sexual intercourse.
“This court has time and again deprecated the use of this regressive and invasive test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault. This so-called test has no scientific basis and neither proves nor disproves allegations of rape. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women who may have been sexually assaulted, and is an affront to their dignity. The two-finger test or per vaginum test must not be conducted,” it noted.
“It is unfortunate that the practice is prevalent even today… The procedure which tests vaginal laxity is an affront on women’s dignity. It cannot be said that a sexually active woman cannot be raped,” the Bench said and issued a slew of directions to the Centre and State Government authorities and asked the DGPs and Health Secretaries of the States to ensure that the “two-finger test” is not conducted.
It directed that a copy of this judgment shall be shared with the Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and he shall transmit copies of this judgment to the Principal Secretary (Department of Public Health) of each State.
The top court further directed the Centre and the Health Secretaries of the States to take steps to remove the study materials on two-finger tests from the curriculum of Government and private medical colleges.
