A Pakistani court has banned the practice of subjecting female rape survivors to a virginity test in an unprecedented ruling.
The Lahore High Court ruled Monday that the virginity test has no legal basis and that it violates the personal dignity of the female victim.
Judge Ayesha Malik ruled: “Virginity tests are highly invasive, without scientific or medical requirements, but are nevertheless performed in the name of medical protocols in cases of sexual violence.
“This is a humiliating practice used to give the victim suspicion, as opposed to focusing on the accused and the incident of sexual violence.”
In a 2018 report, the UN said that virginity tests, a medically dubious internal investigation into a woman’s hymen, were still taking place in 20 countries, and that it could take place with or without consent in rape cases or when a woman of ‘ a ‘moral’ accused ”Crime such as premarital sex or running away.
Premarital sex remains a crime in Pakistan for men and women and carries five years in prison.
‘The verdict is the culmination of a history of activism and builds on the hard work the feminist movement has been doing for decades. The test is part of a larger structure of patriarchy that depends on the victims of female characters and perpetuates the myth of the ‘perfect victim,’ Nighat Dad, a lawyer and rights activist, told the Guardian.
“The barriers for women to report rape cases are insurmountable, but this historic ruling will go a long way in removing the barriers,” she said.
In October, Human Rights Watch said virginity investigations had long been a routine part of criminal proceedings in Pakistan, based on the misogynistic assumption that a woman ‘accustomed to sexual intercourse’ was less likely to be raped. Police and prosecutors used the results to accuse victims of rape of illegal sexual intercourse and treat them as criminals.
Pakistan’s human rights minister Shireen Mazari praised the ruling, which applies only to the state of Punjab. Twitter.