To prevent humiliation and trauma that victims of sexual assault often face during their medical examination, the Maharashtra government has issued a Government Resolution (GR) doing away with archaic and irrelevant practices, including the 'finger test'.

The GR states that doctors, paramedics and medical officers of the state health department would have to adhere to a new manual that details the manner in which the medical examination should be conducted. They would be trained to deal with victims of sexual assault in a sensitive manner. The training would begin at the district level on Sunday.

The GR says that medical examination is non-scientific most of the time, often resulting in hurdles in investigations and miscarriage of justice.

The GR is based on a report by an eight-member panel appointed by the state following a PIL in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court filed by Dr Ranjana Pardhi in 2010. The panel listed the new guidelines.

The GR bulldozes the cavalier attitude in which rape victims are dealt with. It says existing protocols give undue importance to external injury including signs of resistance, examination of hymen and assessment of virginity through the two-finger test.

About the finger test and the tendency of most physicians to write their opinion in the medico-legal report about the sexual habits of the victims, the GR states, "The procedure (of finger test) is degrading and crude and medically and scientifically irrelevant... Information about past sexual conduct has been considered irrelevant and the doctor need not verify if the victim habitually has sexual intercourse or not...."

Some other guidelines include conducting the examination only after receiving the victim's consent, mandatory presence of a female nurse or attendant in the absence of a female doctor.

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