00:00The two-finger test When a woman is raped in India,
00:03it is likely that she might have to go through this invasive process to prove that she was raped.
00:08Although the Supreme Court banned the test in 2013,
00:10it continues to be in use in several parts of the country.
00:13The logic behind the test is to figure out whether the woman was sexually active.
00:18It is also called a virginity test.
00:20But the problem is that the test is not even scientific.
00:23Dr. Taneya, whom you might know as Dr. Cuterus, told this to Brute on phone.
00:27She said as doctors, they are not trained to ascertain anybody's virginity.
00:32And the test doesn't lend any value to finding out whether a woman was in fact raped.
00:37I mean, she could have been sexually active and raped at a later stage in her life.
00:42Does that mean her assault can be discredited?
00:44If we go by the two-finger test logic, yes, it can be discredited.
00:58The two-finger test is basically an ancient way to ascertain if a woman is still a virgin.
01:06If two fingers can easily slide into her vagina,
01:09it is assumed that she has had sex before or she is habituated to sexual intercourse.
01:14But if they don't penetrate that easily, it is assumed that she is a virgin.
01:18The Supreme Court said the test re-victimizes and re-traumatizes
01:23women who may have been sexually assaulted.
01:25The legal medical test of a rape victim involves samples taken from a vagina,
01:30but not the two-finger test.
01:31Other samples include hair, foreign substances found on the body,
01:35and samples taken from the mouth, rectum, and blood.
01:38Sex is not the only thing that can break a hymen,
01:41which is a tissue that covers or surrounds the vaginal opening.
01:44An intact hymen is thought to be a marker of virginity in a person with a vagina.
01:49But even riding a bicycle can break the hymen, playing sports can break it too,
01:53and tampons can also break it, suggests a doctor at Kannur's Government Medical College.
02:05Although it was banned in 2013, the Supreme Court had to reiterate,
02:08nine years later, that the two-finger test is not allowed, period.
02:12The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal against a Telangana High Court order
02:16which had absolved a person convicted of rape by a trial court.
02:20The Apex Court reconvicted the man.
02:23This hearing reignited the conversation about the two-finger test.
02:27The bench of justices D.Y. Chandrachur and Hema Kohli observed
02:30that the test is based on an incorrect assumption
02:33that a sexually active woman cannot be raped.
02:36They denounced the test as patriarchal and sexist,
02:39while stating that anyone who does a two-finger test shall be guilty of misconduct.
02:50you
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