India’s Supreme Court has banned the ‘two-finger’ test on female rape survivors, describing it as an invasive and patriarchal practice which lacked scientific basis and discouraged sexually active women from reporting rapes.

The panel comprising two judges said the two-finger test was a backward and unscientific approach that invalidates a woman’s rape testimony solely because she had engaged in sexual intercourse in the past. 

“The probative value of a woman’s testimony does not depend upon her sexual history. It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped, merely for the reason that she is sexually active,” the two-judge panel stated in its ruling.

Reiterating the “so-called test” lacked scientific basis, Justice DY Chandrachud said it “instead re-victimiSes and re-traumatiSes women and is an affront to their dignity. So, the two-finger or per vaginam test must not be conducted.” 

“The test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped,” Mr Chandrachud added. “Nothing can be further from the truth — evidence of a victim’s sexual history is wholly immaterial while adjudicating whether the accused raped her. It is regrettable that it continues to be conducted even today.”

India’s Supreme Court gave the ruling on October 31 when it revisited a 2004 rape and murder case and overturned a Jharkhand High Court judgement that acquitted the suspect based on the two-finger test. 

The man had previously been found guilty and subsequently convicted by a lower-level court until the Jharkhand High Court intervened and absolved him of wrongdoing. 

With the Supreme Court’s verdict, a conviction has now been restored.

The federal and state governments were also commanded by the apex court to put in place mechanisms that would compel all medical professionals to stop using the two-finger test, adding that violators would face charges of misconduct.  

The Indian health ministry was specifically taxed with organising workshops for health workers to teach the approved procedures to examine rape survivors. 

The Supreme Court added that all teachings related to two-finger tests be removed from the medical school syllabus.