Supreme Court Bans ‘Two-Finger’ Test, Calls It ‘Patriarchal, Sexist & Unscientific’

October 31 has brought some good news for Indian women as the Supreme Court has banned the two-finger test in rape cases. SC has also warned people conducting it on survivors and said that they would be ‘guilty of misconduct’.

The decision was taken by a bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli and Chief Justice Of India DY Chandrachud. They were quoted saying, “It is regrettable that the two-finger test continues to be conducted even today.”

This came after the justices were hearing a plea filed against a judgement by the Telangana High Court in which it overturned the ruling of a trial court in a rape case.

Judgement Of The Supreme Court

While passing the judgement, the apex court observed that it has time and again deprecated the use of the test in cases alleging sexual assault and rape. “The so-called test has no scientific basis,” it added.

It emphasised the fact that the test further re-traumatises and re-victimises the survivors of heinous crimes like rape and sexual assault. While banning the ‘two-finger’ test, the bench also said, “The test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth.”

‘Probative Value Of Testimony Does Not Depend On Sexual History’

The court made an observation that the probative value of a woman’s testimony cannot depend on her sexual history. “It is patriarchal (internalised patriarchy) and sexist that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped merely because she is sexually active,” the bench added.

Justices directed the Union Health Ministry of India to adhere to their instructions and ensure that survivors of sexual assault and rape are never asked to get the two-finger test done on them.

Directions For The Union Government & State Governments

The Department of Health and Family Welfare would design certain guidelines which the Union Government and State Governments must circulate in all the private and Government hospitals in the country.

The SC directed workshops to be conducted for healthcare providers that will communicate appropriate procedures to examine victims of sexual assault. It had even given strict instructions against the test being prescribed in medical schools among a bunch of others when a survivor came asking for help.

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2013 Statement Of SC On Two-Finger Test

While hearing a case in 2013, the Supreme Court said that the two-finger test violates the right of rape survivors to privacy, dignity, mental and physical integrity.

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The two-finger test has been marked as a means to test the ‘virginity’ of a woman. It aims at checking the presence or absence of a hymen (hymen myths), which is in itself based on a myth that the hymen breaks or ruptures when a person has sex. The fact is that a hymen may rupture in many ways, and there is no way to define “virginity”, which is another patriarchal construct that judges the character of a woman to label her “pure or impure”.

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