On Friday, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) conducted an investigation into the ‘forced virginity test’ also known as the two-finger test on minor girls as exposed by the Governor of Tamil Nadu earlier this month. According to some reports, Dr RG Anand of the NCPCR revealed that no two-finger test was performed on minor girls in Chidambaram and the test was conducted by touching their private parts. However, it was later revealed in a report by Swarajya that the media misquoted him and that the NCPCR probe had confirmed that two-finger test was indeed conducted.
On May 4, the governor of Tamil Nadu, Ravindra Narayana Ravi, stated that the minor girls in the state were forced to undergo the two-finger test, also known as the virginity test, by the state administration in an effort to defame the podhu dikshithars. He also said that false cases of child marriage were filed against the podhu dikshithars, whereas there were no such marriages.
Pothu dikshithars are the hereditary priests and custodians of Sri Sabanayagar Temple, popularly known as Lord Nataraja Temple. Parents were arrested and put in prison. And the girls, sixth and seventh standard students, were forcibly taken from home to the hospitals and made to undergo ‘two-finger tests,’ virginity tests. Some of them tried to commit suicide,” he was quoted as saying.
The NCPCR took cognizance of the revelation and launched an investigation into the case. The NCPCR has commenced suo motu procedures to examine the charges, despite the Tamil Nadu police and health department authorities refuting these assertions. Irai Anbu, the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu, was also given instructions by the NCPCR to produce a report on this issue.
On Wednesday, NCPCR member Anand travelled to Chidambaram as part of the continuing probe. He immediately went to the Nataraja Temple and asked about the accusations made by the Podhu Dikshithars there. After that, he went to the Chidambaram All Women Police Station and questioned Collector in-charge R Rajasekaran, and SP, R Rajaram, the investigating officers of the case, and the doctors who conducted the tests on the girls.
Additionally, Dr Anand went to the girls’ homes and conducted individual interviews with both their parents and the girls. The Podhu Dikshithars’ legal representative, G Chandrasekaran, was present during the investigation.
“In response to the interview given by the Tamil Nadu Governor, the NCPCR chairperson requested a report from the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, which has already been submitted to us. My visit is aimed at cross-checking the information mentioned in the report. I interviewed the Dikshithars, officials, and the victims. A comprehensive report, including their statements, will be prepared and submitted to the NCPCR chairperson within the next two or three days,” he added.
The girls, according to Anand’s quotes, claimed that there had been no child marriage and that they had been forced into fraudulently accepting it throughout the investigation.
Two finger test declared unconstitutional in 2013
In this procedure, two fingers are inserted into the rape victim’s vagina by a medical professional in an effort to ‘test the laxity of the vagina’ and determine if the hymen is ruptured. The test is frequently used to label rape victims as being habituated to sex.
The medical proof of prior sexual encounters is used to refute the rape allegation, either to imply that the victim lied about the rape, to suggest that the rape was not harmful, or to argue that the victim is morally odious and hence not entitled to justice.
The problematic test was declared as unconstitutional in 2013 by India’s Supreme Court. The test has no scientific basis and it instead re-victimizes and re-traumatizes women, the court had said. It had also then stated that the test violates the right of rape survivors to privacy, physical and mental integrity and dignity.
