‘Cancel licence of doctors who still conduct two-finger test’

Rape survivors submit letter to apex court, call for action

As many as 1,500 survivors of rape and their families submitted a letter to the apex court on Friday demanding cancellation of licences of medical practitioners who still conduct the “humiliating two-finger test” despite a Supreme Court ban.

The letter was submitted by Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan (RGA), a survivor-centric forum with more than 12,000 survivors of sexual violence and their families.

The two-finger test, to ascertain rape, was banned by the Supreme Court in 2013.

“The test was banned because not only does it violate a survivor’s right to privacy, but also because it is unscientific and tends to be used as evidence in court to shame the survivor of previous sexual history. The forum has documented over 57 cases of such violations by medical practitioners,” the letter stated and demanded cancellation of licences of all medical practitioners conducting it.

Child rape

The RGA, in the letter, thanked the Supreme Court for the suo motu public interest litigation initiated by the court on the rise in cases of child rape, “corresponding lack of infrastructure and delay in probe and trial of these cases”.

Cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children and sex trafficking are actually cases of serial rape of children, according to the letter. “However, data tracked in six States show that the police are registering these cases only under trafficking related laws and not under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012, which has more stringent and adequate procedures for speedy trial and rehabilitation,” the letter said.

RGA latter also said that minors, who became pregnant after rape, struggle to receive permission from the court for abortion.

The forum requested the court to have in place due procedures to ensure examination and treatment for at least three months and separate proforma to be developed for the cases of child rape.

According to the campaign, over in 202 cases it has dealt with, the survivors have neither received any interim nor final compensation even after conviction of the accused in the case.