The international organisation, Women’s Link Worldwide, awarded the Supreme Court of Bangladesh the Silver Gavel in recognition of its firm stand against gender-based violence and inequality in Bangladesh.
In October 2013, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh instructed all relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Inspector General of Police, to justify the continuation of the draconian practice of the “two finger test”, which is an invasive, humiliating and unscientific medical procedure used in legal examination of rape survivors.
Icddr,b issued a media release on its website yesterday regarding this.
The groundwork for banning the two-finger test for medical evidence collection in rape cases was undertaken by the icddr,b-led SAFE Project.
As a SAFE partner, the Bangladesh Legal AID and Services Trust (BLAST), conducted research on the two-finger test and led several consultations with various stakeholders.
As a result of these consultations, a memorandum was submitted to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Human Rights Commission demanding a ban on the test.
The BLAST and seven other human rights, women’s rights and legal services organisations and two individuals filed a public interest litigation on October 7, 2013 before the Supreme Court, seeking prohibition on the two-finger test.
In response to the litigation, the SC issued a ruling that asked the government to respond to it, and in turn, form a committee to create new guidelines, which if implemented, would ban the practice.
icddr,b’s Dr Ruchira Tabassum Naved, senior scientist and coordinator of the research group on Gender and Social Determinants of Health, and Shahanoor Akter Chowdhury, research investigator and SAFE Project Coordinator, are providing external support to the committee.
According to Dr Naved, the use of two-finger test in conducting examination of the vaginal canal is highly problematic, not only due to inherent inaccuracies associated with this test but also the manner in which such findings are used to discredit women’s testimonies.
It was an inspection which is physically invasive and legally unsound and a breach of the constitutional rights of girls and women in Bangladesh, added Naved.
Criminal law experts, lawyers, police and forensic scientists all over the world have concluded that this kind of test has no evidentiary value, no scientific merit and it breaches national and international human rights standards and compounds the victim’s trauma and paradoxically amounts to further sexual assault.
Funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands, the SAFE Project is implemented by a consortium of organisations including the icddr,b, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Marie Stopes Clinic Society, Nari Maitree and The Population Council.
The project aims to raise awareness about gender, gender-based violence and women’s and girls’ rights, create an enabling environment for practising these rights, provide services and carry out advocacy in relevant areas including legal and policy reform.