Pakistan’s Punjab govt bans two-finger test for rape victims ahead of Court's order

Pakistani media on Saturday reported that Punjab province has issued a notification banning the two-finger test for rape and sexual violence survivors. However, they have faced a major backlash as the petitioners claimed that the notification by the government was “hastily prepared, vague and deficient in material respects”.

This decision by the Punjab administration comes amid an ongoing court case and has been implemented with immediate effect across Punjab. Another similar case related to the same issue is underway in the Sindh province. While the World Health Organization has declared the two-finger test as "unscientific, medically unnecessary and unreliable", India had banned the two-finger test in 2013 and Bangladesh had banned it in 2018. 

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In October, the Pakistan government disapproved of the two-finger test (TFT) performed on rape survivors and recommended that it should not be part of any medico-legal examination report in sexual assault cases. The Ministry of Law and Justice has intimated the Additional Attorney General at Lahore, Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, about the recommendation. He also informed the Lahore High Court about the federal government's stance, the Dawn News reported.

The court sought the law ministry's response after going through a statement by the World Health Organisation, which has declared virginity testing as "unscientific, medically unnecessary and unreliable". The court is seized with two public interest litigation petitions which have challenged the TFT, the report said.

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One petition was filed by a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the National Assembly and the other by a group of women's rights activists, academics, journalists and advocates. The petitioners contended that the TFT was "disrespectful, inhumane and violated women's fundamental rights".

At a previous hearing in September, the Punjab Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department and the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department had observed in their submissions to the court that the TFT had limited evidentiary value vis-à-vis determination of virginity and, therefore, should be struck off the protocol of medico-legal certificate (MLC).

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The petition pointed out that the Human Rights Watch, UN Human Rights Organisation and the WHO have called for the elimination of the TFT. The petitioners called upon governments to take measures to ensure physical and mental health of all women undergoing medico-legal examination and to adopt scientific methods of investigating claims of rape and sexual assault.

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(with PTI inputs)