Trauma of rape survivor

(MainsGS2:Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.)

Context:

• The Supreme Court recently declared that any person conducting the invasive ‘two-finger’ or ‘three-finger’ vaginal test on rape or sexual assault survivors will be found guilty of misconduct.

Re-traumatises women:

• Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the sole reason behind using the “regressive” test on traumatised sexual assault survivors is to see whether the woman or girl was “habituated” to sexual intercourse.
• The faulty logic behind the test was that “a woman cannot be believed when she said she was raped merely for the reason that she was sexually active”. 
• This so-called test has no scientific basis and neither proves nor disproves allegations of rape. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women who may have been sexually assaulted, and is an affront to their dignity.

Violation of guidelines:

• Activists and legal experts say the practice of this regressive test can be traced to deep-seated biases against women in society, and lack of awareness on guidelines from the courts as well as the government among police officials and medical practitioners on the ground.
• After the 2013 Justice Verma Committee report on amendments to criminal law for a faster trial, and enhanced punishment in sexual assault cases, the Union Health Ministry brought out detailed guidelines for the medical examination of victims of sexual assault in early 2014.
• The guidelines state: “Per-Vaginum examination commonly referred to by lay persons as ‘two-finger’ test must not be conducted for establishing rape, sexual violence” by medical practitioners who carry out medico-legal examination of victims of sexual assault.

Required sensitisation:

• Widespread sensitisation and training of both doctors and police personnel on the issue is way forward.
• People working with victims of sexual assault feel that in most cases, the victims are too traumatised and intimidated as most are unaware of the regulations.
• Thus, women have to muster up courage and complain against local officials and doctors so that the issue can be addressed.
• Moreover, many medical practitioners are unaware that the police cannot direct them to carry out any test or procedure as medical examination is the domain of doctors. Thus, the 2014 guidelines have to be adopted rigorously.

Conclusion:

• Despite stringent laws in place after the Nirbhaya rape of 2012, things on the ground have not improved for a survivor who has to battle stigma and many other prejudices.
• Rapes often go unreported, and the conviction rate is low too (28.6% in 2021, according to National Crime Records Bureau data).
• It is now up to the governments, health centres and police stations to act with sensitivity and without discrimination and ensure women have access to justice and dignity while reporting rape.