Highlights
- “Evidence of a victim’s sexual history not material to case. It is regrettable that it continues to be conducted even today…The so called test has no scientific basis…it instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women,” the Court said.
- The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli made these observations while restoring conviction in a rape case.
The Supreme Court on Monday held that any person found conducting two-finger test on a victim in rape or penetrative sexual assault cases will be guilty of misconduct. The top court asked the centre and states to ensure the practice is stopped.
The practice has no scientific basis, and it instead re-traumatises women, the Supreme Court said as it ruled that any individual conducting the “two-finger test” on a survivor will be held guilty of misconduct.
What the court said
Underlining that the two-finger test stands proscribed by the top court through a raft of judgments starting 2013, the SC bench headed by justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud frowned upon the continuance of the practice even though it was established to be lacking any scientific basis to ascertain the sexual history of the victim.
“Evidence of a victim’s sexual history not material to case. It is regrettable that it continues to be conducted even today…The so called test has no scientific basis…it instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women,” the Court said.
“It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped merely because she is sexually active,” the top court said.
Issuing a slew of directives to ensure implementation of its previous judgments, the top court directed the Centre and states to ensure that the guidelines formulated by the department of health and family welfare banning the two-finger test are recirculated to all government and private hospitals.
It further said that workshops must be conducted for health care providers to communicate appropriate procedure for examining survivors of sexual assault.
Bench made observations while restoring conviction in a rape case
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli made these observations while restoring conviction in a rape case. The bench overturned a Jharkhand High Court’s ruling acquitting a rape and murder convict, and upheld a decision of a trial court holding him guilty.
It also directed the centre and the states to review curriculums in all government and private medical colleges and have the study materials on “two-finger test” removed.
