New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday prohibited "two-finger test" in rape cases and warned that persons conducting such tests will be held guilty of misconduct.
The court said it was unfortunate that the practice is still prevalent in society, and asked the Centre and the states to ensure it is not conducted.
A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli overturned a decision of the Jharkhand High Court acquitting a rape and murder convict, and upheld a decision of a trial court holding him guilty.
.jpg.transform/170x160/image.jpg "SC seeks Centre's response to pleas on criminalisation of marital rape")
This court has time and again deprecated the use of two- finger test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault. 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 test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth," the bench observed while pronouncing the judgment.
The bench said a decade-old decision of the top court had held the invasive test as a violation of a woman's dignity and privacy.
"It is unfortunate that the practice is still prevalent even today The procedure which tests vaginal laxity is an affront to women's dignity. It cannot be said that a sexually active woman cannot be raped," the bench said.
It 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.
The court directed state and Centre to conduct workshops for health providers to communicate appropriate procedure examining a sexual assault survivor.
It directed to review curriculums in medical schools so that the two finger test is not prescribed as one of the procedures to be adopted while examining survivors of sexual assault and rape.
(With LiveLaw input)
