Although the practice of testing someone's virginity is prohibited, a female doctor in Pakistan's Punjab province was fired for testing a juvenile rape victim. On Tuesday, the Punjab government terminated the services of Dr. Aliza Gill.
The two-finger test was outlawed in rape examinations by the Lahore High Court in 2020. The virginity test was deemed by the court to be "humiliating and having no forensic value".
During the Tuesday hearing, LHC Justice Farooq Haider declared, "The test can never be performed or documented in the medicolegal report." He also voiced concerns about the test's use in hospitals, in spite of the restriction.
The court observed that physicians are issuing medical certifications in violation of the law. "This is a very serious matter and should not go unnoticed," he stated.
The Punjab administration informed the court that it had fired Dr. Gill for using the child rape victim as a test subject.
The administration stated that, in view of the court ruling, physicians throughout the province have been instructed not to conduct virginity tests on female victims of sexual assaults or to record such results in the medicolegal report.
Raj Maqsood, the government's attorney, informed the court that the Punjab Surgeon Medical Officer had also suggested creating a special medical board to examine the victim.
The hearing was postponed by the judge until Thursday.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey/MSM)
