Over the years, the cry to ban such appalling and dehumanising tests, or customs, has gained pace. There has been a fierce resistance from forward-looking males and females from within the community.
Many women from the Kanjarbhat community - made up of around 200,000 people – are forced to undergo a virginity test on their wedding night in order to ascertain whether or not they are ‘virtuous’.
The test is seen as a fundamental part of any wedding that takes place within the community and is obligated by the highly influential caste panchayat.
Even though the Maharashtra state government passed a law criminalising caste panchayats in July 2017, the kangaroo courts have sustained, exercising mammoth power and influence in the community.
The couple are given a white sheet and taken to a hotel room rented by the village council or one the families. While the family members wait outside, the couples are sent inside the room to consummate their marriage. If the bride bleeds during intercourse, she is seen as a virgin and labelled ‘khara maal’, and if she doesn’t, consequences are harsh. The woman is often beaten up, her family is ostracised and asked to pay a hefty fine to settle the matter. Whoever defies Kanjarbhat law is subject to social boycott.
As unscientific as these so-called ‘tests’ are, there has been a call to ban such humiliating tests and mark them unlawful.
Acting upon growing protests, the Maharashtra government will soon make forcing a woman undergo virginity test a punishable offence.
Ranjeet Patil, the Minister of State for Home, met a delegation of some social organisations on the issue Wednesday.
“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,” the minister told reporters post the meeting.
Last week, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had expressed serious concerns over a report that stated virginity tests are still prevalent and tests of brides were forcefully conducted among the Kanjarbhats. Calling the practice regressive, misogynistic and in violation of basic human rights and dignity, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma wrote to Maharashtra's women and child welfare minister Pankaja Gopinath Munde asking her to look into the matter.
Media reports said that two cases of virginity tests have come to light in Pune.
Call for change on social media
The centuries-old humiliating custom is being challenged by educated youngsters within the Kanjarbhat community.
A WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram group – Stop The V-Ritual – is doing what’s the need of the hour.
Priyanka Tamaichekar, Vivek Tamaichikar and Siddhant Indrekar are speaking publicly against the practice. Most people from the community accept as true that virginity test is a character certificate of the woman. Their argument? –
“Do we want India to follow the western countries where girls are getting pregnant at 13
and 14?”
Siddhant started with shooting an eight-minute-long video of in November, 2017, where an elderly man declared “Maal khara khara khara”, meaning goods are pure. In the video, two men were seen throwing Rs 5,000 on the ground and the couple dressed in their best looked on as someone from the crowd stepped forth to collect the money.