What presents itself as an ancient and inhuman practice is still the norm in some countries of the world. The rape test or, of virginity, it is a way to prove the purity of a woman or sexual violence, a test without any scientific basis and a source of embarrassment if not trauma for those who suffer it.
Many associations take sides against it, including the Women for Human Rights.
Rape test in India: what it is
These tests are a way to determine whether women who claim to have experienced violence are right or not. The practice is also used as evidence in court despite having no scientific basis and the sole purpose of questioning the rape accusation. The result is that there are very few convictions for sexual violence in this part of the world, in some countries less than 3%.
But how does it happen? The test, also known as the two-finger test, essentially requires a doctor to enter with two fingers in the woman’s vagina and try to determine whether or not the hymen is broken also testing the relaxation of the vagina. In case the hymen is intact the rape charge lapses, although violence can occur even without the rupture.
Rape test India and beyond
Tests of this type are still used in countries such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives which, in this way, reconstruct a woman’s sexual history.
Rape in these countries is seen as an offense to chastity and honor, it takes years to process, often judges and law enforcement officers are corrupt and it happens that policemen refuse reports and do not investigate. Among other complications is the fact that courts require rape testing for judicial ruling. Traumatic and harmful practice, so much so that Pakistan declared it outlawed in January of this year because according to the judge it is an “invasive practice that violates the body of women”. In theory, India has also banned its use since 2013, but this decision of the Supreme Court is not actually respected.
Rape test in India: violence data
The examination in question is according to some a way to give the authorities the opportunity to question the purity of a woman by arbitrarily proving that the victim had an immoral conduct. This is also supported by Sumeera Shrestha, executive director of the Nepalese organization Women for Human Rights, that, regarding the rape test, he said: “It is humiliating and inhumane. It is not just about rape, but it is a test that allows us to test the virginity of women ”.
Using this test as evidence of violence is limiting and humiliating for the victim but it is also a symbol of a culture that pays no attention to this problem. In some countries, not all violence is condemnable: in Bangladesh, for example, only the act of peno-vaginal penetration is considered rape and, in other countries, the law does not even consider situations in which the victim is in a state. inability to provide consent. The data of the last few years confirm the seriousness of the phenomenon: second Bangladesh Police in the country registered, in 2019, 6321 cases of violence, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, in India, the victims would be 31.033, second Nepal Police in the country have registered 2144 violence e 1779 in Sri Lanka according to Sri Lanka Police. The vaginal test only aggravates the trauma suffered and over time perpetrates a culture of rape that sees the victim as co-responsible for the violence.
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