The Supreme Court on Monday (31st October) banned the two-finger test and said that anybody who performs the same will be held guilty of misconduct. For the unversed, the two-finger test is a virginity test performed on women, which tests the laxity of vaginal muscles. A doctor performs the test by inserting a finger into the female’s vagina to check the level of vaginal laxity, which is used to determine if she is “habituated to sexual intercourse”. A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrchud and Hima Koli that it is regrettable that the ‘two-finger test’ continues to be conducted even today. Restoring the conviction of an accused in a rape case, they said that the test has “no scientific basis” and “only re-victimises and re-traumatises women” and it “must not be conducted”.

“This court has time and again deprecated the use of two finger test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault…The test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth,” said the apex court in its judgement which came on an appeal against a high court order in the case. The Supreme Court said, “The probative value of a woman’s testimony does not depend on her sexual history. 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”.