NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court stated on Monday that it is regrettable that the "two-finger test" is still used to scrutinize rape survivors in society and urged the central government and the states to make sure it is never used.
A verdict by the Jharkhand High Court exonerating a man convicted of rape and murder was overturned by a bench of judges led by DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli, who also affirmed the conviction.
The bench cited a ruling from the top court made ten years prior that declared the intrusive "two-finger test" to be a violation of a woman's privacy and dignity.
"It is regrettable that this behavior is still common in today's society. The procedure used to measure vaginal laxity is blatantly disrespectful to women. The idea that a woman who is sexually active cannot be raped is untrue "declared the bench.
It issued a number of directives to the state and federal governments, as well as requests to the state's DGPs and secretaries of health to prevent the use of the "two-finger test."
According to the highest court, anyone who administers the two-finger test will be found in violation of the law.
It instructed the Centre and the state's health secretaries to take action to have the study guides for two-finger tests removed from the curriculum of both government-run and for-profit medical schools.
Both the Union Government and the State Governments were asked by the court to ensure that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's guidelines are distributed to all public and private hospitals, and that workshops for health providers be held to explain the proper procedure to be adopted when examining survivors of sexual assault and rape, and that the curriculum in medical schools be reviewed with a view to making sure that the two-finger salute is taught.
In order to guarantee that the ruling's directives are followed, it was also ordered that the judgment be shared with the Secretary of the Government of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Directors General of Police will also get instructions in this regard from the Secretaries of each state's Department of Home.
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