Supreme court bans ‘two-fingers’ test on sexual assault survivors

way2barak, Oct.31: In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on October 31 slammed the use of “two-finger test” in cases of rape and sexual assault and asked the centre to ensure the practice is stopped. The apex court declared that any person conducting the invasive ‘two-finger’ or ‘three-finger’ vaginal test on rape or sexual assault survivors will be found guilty of misconduct.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said, “This so-called test has no scientific basis and neither proves nor disproves allegations of rape. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women who may have been sexually assaulted, and is an affront to their dignity. The ‘two-finger’ test or pre- vaginum test must not be conducted.”

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the sole reason behind using the “regressive” test on traumatised sexual assault survivors is to see whether the woman or girl was “habituated” to sexual intercourse. The faulty logic behind the test was that “a woman cannot be believed when she said she was raped merely for the reason that she was sexually active”, the court added.