Two-finger test should be banned in matrimonial dispute cases too, says Maharashtra doctor

A Maharashtra based forensic medicine professor who has been fighting for a ban on two-finger/virginity test for 12 years has hailed the Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the practice in sexual assualt cases and said it should be extended to matters of marital dispute too.

According to a PTI report, Dr Indrajit Khandekar, working at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) in Sevagram near here, had been fighting since 2010 for a ban on virginity test claiming it had no scientific basis.

A few days ago, the Supreme Court deprecated the regressive and invasive practice of the ‘two-finger test’ on rape survivors and said it had no scientific basis and instead re-victimised women who might have been sexually assaulted.

Though the SC, by this order, has banned two-finger test in relation to rape victims, various family courts and high courts have directed doctors to conduct such tests on wife to know whether she is virgin or not in cases of marital dispute such as nullification of marriage on the ground of impotency of the husband.