ISLAMABAD. The Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the “virginity test” or “finger test”, an invasive examination of the genitals of women who report rape used to determine if they had an active sex life before the alleged violence, unconstitutional. The highest Pakistani court has called this practice an “affront to the reputation and honor” of victims of sexual assault. “Modern forensic science shows that finger testing should not be used to investigate sexual assault,” said Judge Mansoor Ali Shah.
Women who, following the test, are deemed sexually active are often considered “of easy virtue” by the Pakistani courts and their denunciation is belittled. This, according to the Supreme Court, “discredits woman’s independence, her identity, her autonomy and her freedom of choice.”
The highest Pakistani court also ordered the courts to abandon the use of phrases such as “accustomed to sex”, “easy woman”, “woman of little morality” or “not virgin”, expressions that are “unconstitutional and illegal”. A practice denounced as degrading by the United Nations and other international associations, the “virginity test” was banned in 2013 in India and in 2018 in Bangladesh.