Supreme Court on Monday said anybody still conducting the "two-finger test" on survivors of sexual assault would be held guilty of misconduct. It is regrettable that rape survivors were still subjected to this test, the top court said while directing the Health Ministry to remove all references of this invasive test from all study materials.
The bench comprising Chief Justice designate DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli took a stern view of the two-finger test which was held illegal in accordance with the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2013, passed a year after the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case.
"This court has time and again deprecated the use of two finger test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault, the Supreme Court said while restoring the conviction of a man who was acquitted by the Jharkhand High Court in a rape and murder case.
"Evidence of a victim's sexual history is not material to the case. The so-called test has no scientific basis...instead, it re-victimises and re-traumatises women…," the bench observed. "This test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth," it added.
"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 court said.