LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) today (Monday) has declared virginity tests, including two-finger test (TFT) and hymen tests of rape survivors ‘illegal and unconstitutional’.
The verdict was announced by LHC judge Justice Ayesha A Malik in a petition challenging the virginity tests of rape survivors. In a 30-page judgement, Justice Ayesha wrote that the testing methods were ‘unscientific having no medical basis, therefore it has no forensic value in cases of sexual violence’.
The judgement stated that the virginity test ‘offends the dignity of the female victim’ and was contradictory to Article 9 and Article 14 of the Constitution, which are related to the security and dignity of a person.
It was also ruled as being discriminatory against the female victim as they were carried out on the basis of their gender that offends Article 25 of the Constitution.
“Consequently to the extent that the 2020 guidelines, SOPs, and the 2015 instructions that mandate the two-finger test or the hymen test for the purposes of ascertaining the virginity of the victim have been declared illegal and against the Constitution,” the judgment read.
The judge directed the provincial government to take necessary steps to ensure that the practice of such virginity tests was banned from the medico-legal examination of the rape and sexual abuse survivors.
The judge also ordered the federal and provincial governments to take necessary steps to ensure that virginity tests are not carried out in medico-legal examination of the victims of rape and sexual abuse”.
The judgment also ordered to devise appropriate medico-legal protocols and guidelines, along with SOPs, in line with international practice that recognise and manage sensitively the care of the victims.
Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also welcomed the LHC’s judgment. However, the federal minister added that the anti-rape ordinance had already banned this test and it is applicable across the country.
