KARACHI: The government of Pakistan's Sindh province has officially abolished so-called "virginity tests" in rape examinations and is recruiting 220 female medical officers to handle rape cases, authorities confirmed in a high court hearing on Friday.
The "two-finger test" is performed by inserting one or two fingers into a woman's vagina to test the presence of a hymen — in theory to determine whether or not the woman is sexually active. The World Health Organization has debunked the test, saying it is unscientific, harmful, and a violation of women's and girls' human rights.
Sindh is the second province banning the practice, after the Lahore High Court outlawed it in Punjab in January.
Advocate Ali Lakhani, whose client's case led to the ban in Sindh, said the provincial government had filed a notification with the Sindh High Court confirming the implementation of the ban.
“Today, government of Sindh filed notification, confirming that the two-finger test has been abolished and SOPs have been finalized for examination of rape victims under consultation with Medio-Legal Reforms Committee," Lakhani told Arab News.
"They have also confirmed that 220 posts have been sanctioned for WMLOs (women medico-legal officers) across Sindh."
Rights activists welcomed the decision with hopes it would help phase out the practice, as despite a Supreme Court order declaring virginity tests unconstitutional after the Lahore verdict, which should be binding for all provinces, the practice has still been in place, including in Sindh's main city Karachi.
"We were recently told that this practice is ongoing in two major public hospitals of Karachi,” Shiraz Ahmed of War Against Rape (WAR), a Karachi-based organization working to support rape victims, told Arab News. “This judgment should be seen implemented, this practice needs to be immediately stopped."
"Virginity test is neither scientific nor medically required to establish the incidents of rape, gang rape, incest or sexual abuse," he said. "It violates bodily integrity and the privacy of rape victims and unjustifiably subjects them to further trauma."
Mahnaz Rahman, resident director of Aurat Foundation in Karachi said that besides medico-legal officers, authorities also need to employ women investigation officers.
“A woman can express herself freely in front of another woman and a woman can better understand the problems faced by another woman," she said. "We are happy that a decision has finally been taken which will take the country in right direction."
