The medical examination of rape victims is not conducted in consonance with guidelines set by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), a study has claimed while calling for proper training of personnel for carrying out such examinations.
The study was conducted by an NGO 'Partners For law in Development' with support from the Department of Justice, Ministry of law and Justice and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).
The study also found that some victims experienced obstacles and harassment from the police in registering FIRs.
"A copy of the FIR is not immediately available, but is dispatched later to the victims. Often, victims have to keep following up to obtain a copy," said the report.
The report also said that medical examinations were not carried out within the guidelines set by the MoHFW.
Consent is not formally taken and signatures and thumb impressions are often taken at a later stage, it said.It recommended that only those garments that were connected with the crime must be taken for purposes of forensic examination.