The Maharashtra Government will soon make virginity tests for brides a punishable offence.
On the 6th of February, the Maharashtra Government said, virginity tests for brides will soon be a criminal offence and will be declared illegal in the State.
Ranjit Patil, the Minister of State for Home, said, “Virginity test will be considered a form of sexual assault…after consultations with the Law and Judiciary department, a circular will be issued declaring it a punishable offence.”
Mr. Ranjit also conducted a meeting regarding the same, on the 6th of February, with some delegates belonging to social organisations. Neelam Gorhe, the spokesperson of the Shiv Sena Party, was also among the delegates.
Rekha Sharma, the Chairperson of National Commission Women (NCW,) last week, wrote a letter to Pankaja Gopinath Munde, the Women and Child Welfare Minister of Maharashtra, regarding the practice.
The Kanjarbhat community in Maharashtra follows the custom of virginity tests since a long time, as a ‘character test’ of a bride. The Kanjarbhat are a community of people who migrated to Maharashtra from States like Rajasthan and Gujarat. The community have their own set of rules to be followed and have their own Panchayat head.
There are several short films and reports regarding the custom followed by the Kanjarbhat community, where a girl’s character is defined by whether she is a virgin or not. If the girl bleeds, she passes the test and the verdict is ‘maal khara hai’ (pure goods) and if she fails the test, it is ‘maal khota hai’ (spoiled goods.)
Many youths of the community raised their voices against the practice and started an online campaign against the same.
Ms. Sharma wrote, “The practice is regressive, misogynistic and in violation of basic human rights and dignity… I, therefore, urge your kind intervention in the matter and request that you may please ensure that the persons guilty of perpetrating such discriminatory, misogynistic practices may be appropriately punished so as to prevent such occurrences in the future.”
Aditya Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena, criticised the act followed for decades in Maharashtra. He took to Twitter and expressed his happiness as to how the Maharashtra Government is taking steps against the practice.
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Apart from the issue of virginity tests, Mr. Patil affirmed, there will be a decrease in the number of pending cases of sexual assaults in courts.
Stay tuned for further updates.
