Rape: Rights Group Calls Test to Determine Sexual Activity a ‘Second Assault’ in India

September 13, 2010
Rape: Rights Group Calls Test to Determine Sexual Activity a ‘Second Assault’ in India
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
An international human rights group urged India last week to ban a “degrading and unscientific” test commonly performed on rape victims to see if they have previous sexual experience.

In the test, a doctor inserts fingers into the victim during the forensic examination to test for “vaginal laxity” and is expected to deliver a medical opinion as to whether she appears to be “habituated to sexual intercourse.” The group, Human Rights Watch, argued that the test constituted a second assault on a traumatized woman.

The test is required by courts in some Indian states — including those of Delhi and Mumbai, the national and financial capitals — and, according to local reports, is in the forensic examination still endorsed by the Indian Medical Association.

In most democracies, whether or not a woman has ever had sex before is considered irrelevant in deciding whether she consented to the act under consideration. In 2003, India’s Supreme Court ruled that victims could not be cross-examined on their general moral character, Human Rights Watch said. But it has not ensured that its decision is enforced, and references to those who allege rape as “dissolute” or “of doubtful character” still appear in court rulings.

World Health Organization guidelines calls for victims of sexual violence to get health care at the same time as the forensic examination and from the same person, and for minimally invasive examinations.