What is the Virginity Test men in Pune are trying to stop, and getting beaten up for?

On January 22, three young men were beaten up by a mob of people for trying to find women a respectable standing in society. These three victims belong to the Kanjarbhat community, and are part of a WhatsApp group, called Stop the V Ritual.

This is NOT the first time someone trying to oppose this ritual has faced backlash. On November 25, 2017, one of the members of this WhatsApp group, 21-year-old Siddhant Indrekar, filed a complaint against the caste panchayat at the Vishrantwadi police station. Siddhant claimed he had recorded members of the caste panchayat accepting Rs 10,000 from a bride and a groom to approve their marriage. No action has been taken since, even though he was told that the police would "look into the matter".

So, what is this V ritual that they're trying to stop? And why are they facing such strong opposition?

What is the virginity test?
The letter V in that WhatsApp group stands for Virginity Test. Priyanka Tamaichekar, a Pune resident who is also a part of the group, told Indian Express, "Even today, a virginity test of the bride is conducted in the Kanjarbhat community. The newly married couple is taken to a hotel room. The groom is given a white bedsheet and is asked to use it while having sex. The caste panchayat members actually sit outside the room. If the groom comes out with a bedsheet with blood stains on it, the bride passes the test. But if the bedsheet has no blood stains, the panchayat members accuse the bride of having a physical relationship with a man in the past."

What happens if a new bride doesn't pass the test?
God forbid, if the groom emerges out of the room with a clean bedsheet, the bride's never-ending ordeals begin--from being harassed and even beaten up by the in-laws and husband, to being abandoned by the family altogether, cases have been reported for the worst possible "punishments" one can imagine.

In June 2017, the case of a 20-year-old woman from Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, came to light. This woman-in-question had been deserted by her husband and was forced to remain confined to her room by her father for failing the virginity test. The in-laws even took away all her jewellery, according to a report by The Hindu.

(Source: India Today)

Youths protesting practice of 'virginity test' for brides beaten up at a Pune wedding

The Kanjarbhat community beat the members of WhatsApp group 'Stop the V-ritual' at the do.

Three men were allegedly thrashed at a wedding in Bhat Nagar in Pimpri, Pune on Sunday night. They were attacked by almost 40 fellow members of their own community! All this, for the most regressive reason in the history of mankind: Those men were against the 'virginity test' ritual imposed by the elderly members of their community on the newlyweds and were a part of a WhatsApp group 'Stop the V-ritual' propagating the same.

The Regressive Lot's Name: The Kanjarbhat Community

Their Even More Regressive Ritual's Name: The 'V-Ritual' (virginity test)

The Terribly Regressive Procedure: Newly-married couples are taken to hotel rooms. The groom is given a white bedsheet to use while having sex with the bride while the caste panchayat members actually sit outside the room. If the groom walks out with a blood stains on the sheet, it means the bride has passed the test with flying 'colours'-and quite literally so. If not, she is accused of having a physical relationship with a man in the past by the panchayat members!

That's not it. The bride is punished as per the rules of the panchayat and sometimes even harassed and beaten up.

No points for guessing, there are no such "tests" for the groom!

The only good that has come out of it all is the fact that few of the younger members had formed a WhatsApp group 'Stop the V-ritual' upon realizing how unfair and well--regressive it was--and worked towards stopping the ritual altogether.

"I belong to the Kanjarbhat community and am getting married in May next year. My fiance and me are against this humiliating practice… we have declared that we would not be participating in it because it is against our right to live life with dignity and right to privacy… but just opposing it was not enough. So, we held a meet of all the members of the WhatsApp group in Akurdi on December 3 to plan an awareness campaign," Vivek Tamaichekar, a Masters student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai had said in an interview to Indian Express in December.

However, when Prashant Ankush Indrekar, 25; Saurabh Jitendra Machale, 25 and Prashant Vijay Tamaichikar, 23 went to attend the above-mentioned wedding on Sunday night, they heard the caste panchayat discussing about carrying out the test as it was their "ritual".

Even though, they didn't oppose it on the spot, they were beaten up brutally by the members, who knew that they were a part of the 'Stop the V-ritual' WhatsApp group.

3 members of 'Stop the V ritual', a WhatsApp group created to raise awareness against practice of determining virginity of a bride on wedding night, allegedly thrashed by members of their community (Kanjarbhat) in Pimpri last night; FIR registered against 40 ppl, 2 arrested #Pune pic.twitter.com/bVlR4hA28g

— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2018

"Marriage ceremony was over by 9 pm. Then, the caste panchayat held a meeting from about 10 pm to 11.30 pm. They talked about demanding money from the bride and groom. Also, there was a discussion supporting the virginity test of bride, claiming it was a part of their tradition… We did not oppose anyone at the spot. But, they knew that my friends and I are part of the WhatsApp group 'Stop the V-ritual', which creates awareness in the community against the unjust practice of virginity test of brides. So, they got angry and questioned us and then 30-40 youths, including Sunny Malke, brother of the girl who got married on Sunday, attacked Saurabh Jitendra Machale and Prashant Vijay Tamaichikar. When I intervened, they also started beating me. A person even thrashed us with a leather belt. We condemn this act," said Indrekar, while speaking to The Indian Express.

Based on his complaint, 40 members including Malke, Vinayak Malke, and others have been booked under sections 143, 147, 149, 323, 509, 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"As per our investigation, the quarrel erupted as the accused questioned the complainant regarding virginity tests,"Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Ganesh Shinde told the daily.

Shinde added that the accused were against the frequent campaigning being carried out by the complainant.

(Source: Odd Naari)

IGIMS Patna asks new employees, “Are you a virgin?”

“I am a bachelor/widower/virgin” or that “I am married and have only one wife living/married to a person who has no other wife living.”  The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) Patna asked its new recruits in a Marital Declaration questionnaire. Surprised?

This declaration had to be filed by all freshly recruited doctors and nursing staffs. The form asks male employees details such as whether or they have more than one living wife.  The women had to answer whether they are “virgins” or not and testify whether the man they are married has more than one wife.

ABP News 

✔@abpnewstv

IGIMS removes word 'virgin' from marital status declaration form after controversyhttp://www.abplive.in/india-news/igims-removes-word-virgin-from-marital-status-declaration-form-after-controversy-560503 …

11:54 AM - Aug 3, 2017

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Deputy Medical Superintendent, Dr Manish Mandal, told India Today, “Everyone has to fill this form which is part of Central Services Rules and this form is similar to what AIIMS in Delhi uses. If the Centre or AIIMS changes the format of the form in the future, we will also change it. This is not a new form and has been in practice since 1984 when IGIMS was established.”

Dr Mandal also said, “In the Central Services Rules there is a provision that when a person joins the service and later on if she dies because of any eventuality, there may be a claimant or boyfriend who may come to seek a job in place of the victim.”

He clarified by saying,”Essentially what is being asked in the form is whether a person is married or unmarried?  Personally, I feel the word used should have been unmarried instead of virgin. That would have been sober but what is there in the rules have to be followed.”

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry tried to do some damage control by saying:

“I have looked up ‘virgin’ in the dictionary. It means kanya, kunwari (girl, unmarried) Punya Bhumi…I don’t see anything objectionable in this,” said Bihar’s Health Minister Mangal Pandey on Thursday, NDTV reported.

ANI 

✔@ANI

#WATCH "Virgin means unmarried, nothing objectionable in it", says Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on IGIMS marital status form row

7:26 AM - Aug 3, 2017

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Hours later, he was forced to make amends. After being ridiculed on social media sites, the minister has now ordered the health department to revise the form and replace “virgin” with “unmarried”.

“Virgin doesn’t have anything to do with virginity but marital status. If a person joins in and then dies, who would be the claimant?” Perhaps, he conceded, respondents “should have been asked whether they are married or not…that would have been sober,” Mr Pandey claimed.

There is no denying that such questions definitely seem to tow the professional line. However, like many on the social media, we guess that the form only meant to ask whether the individual is “Single” and not a “Virgin”.

(Source: STP)

Teenage bride forced to take 'virginity tests' kills herself 40 days after arranged marriage

A bride killed herself after her husband rejected the results of the virginity tests she was forced to take.

Rajabbi Khurshed, 18, killed herself 40 days after her arranged marriage with Zafar Pirov, 40, in the village of Charbogh, Tajikistan.

Pirov demanded his wife take two further virginity tests in addition to the government-required exam in Tajikistan.

He then asked for a second wife after refusing to believe the results.

Rajabbi Khurshed, 18, killed herself 40 days after her arranged marriage with Zafar Pirov, 40

Ms Khurshed's family told Radio Free Europe their daughter told them on her deathbed she had been under enormous pressure from her husband and "couldn't take it any longer."

Her mother, Fazila Mirzoeva, described her daughter as a victim of "slander and violence".

Pirov has been charged with driving his new wife to suicide. He could face up to eight years in prison.

He defended himself, telling RFE/RL: "My wife gave me a written statement that she allows me to get a second wife because she wasn't a virgin when we got married."

Pre-marriage virginity tests for women are common in Tajikistan.

In 2015, medical checks before marriage were made compulsory for both men and women, although only women are subjected to virginity tests.

(Source: Independent)

Despite ban, invasive virginity tests remain prevalent in Afghanistan

The teenage girl had barely survived an attempted mob lynching in Kabul. The police responded by forcing her to undergo a virginity examination.

An unproved accusation of adultery had sent the mob chasing the girl and the young man she had been linked to, and the crowd set fire to the car in which the two were found last July in west Kabul. They barely escaped, but the police seemed more concerned about the mob’s accusation. They chased her down and arrested her hours later.

“Since there was suspicion of sexual relationship, the police sent the girl to forensic medical for virginity test,” Fraidoon Obaidi, chief of the Kabul Police Criminal Investigation Department, said after her arrest.

That was months after President Ashraf Ghani had promised rights activists that forensic virginity tests — an invasive examination to check whether the hymen is intact — would be abolished as an official procedure. And it was years after studies and human rights groups had discredited the practice entirely, finding it invalid and tantamount to sexual abuse.

But the reality is that despite all that, and years of efforts to enact protections for Afghan women and girls, the examinations are still being ordered by officials, compounding the trauma for women who in many cases have been raped or otherwise abused.

The main forensic medical center in Kabul, which also processes cases from other provinces, conducted 42 virginity tests in the first half of 2016, about the same pace as the year before, when it conducted about 80, according to medical records there. The overall number of such tests is certainly higher, given that official records across the country are difficult to track down. One police substation in Kabul sent 26 cases of “moral crimes” — which include rape cases — to forensic medicine in 2015, and most involved virginity tests.

Asked for comment, President Ghani’s office sent a statement saying: “The virginity test has been banned. However, it’s a long-lasting practice used wrongly by law enforcement authorities, especially police.” It said that early in 2016, “to eliminate the practice entirely, the government asked for a full study of the practice and the socio-psychological impact of this practice on women who go through this.”

The statement acknowledged, though, that such tests still happen: “However wrong, it is going to take some time to entirely be stopped and removed. But we are determined to change this practice.”

The procedure’s resilience, though, shows a broader problem that a recent report by the United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as Sigar, expressed concern about. The United States has spent $1 billion on legal reform in Afghanistan, yet the country’s justice sector still remains profoundly biased against women, the report said.

In addition to that spending, the United States added $1 billion for programs in which the advancement of Afghan women was a central point. But many prominent women interviewed for that report said the efforts missed a key component: the support of Afghan men.

Historically, efforts to alter the status of women in a deeply male-dominated culture have drawn strong adverse reactions. That is reflected in widespread and aggressive criticism that working Afghan women say they face, and also in the perception that over all, basic support of women’s rights has dropped in recent years.

“These programs have raised the expectations of women, but they have left men behind,” Adela Raz, Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, was quoted as saying in the Sigar report. “This has created tension between genders, because men think as women become more ‘aware,’ they will cut ties with tradition and the families.”

A study by Afghanistan’s human rights commission found the continuing virginity tests so routine that the justice system was still regularly ordering female victims of domestic abuse who had sought protection in women’s shelters to go through the procedure. The commission called the examinations “violence against women.”

“The circumstances of virginity test are never humane,” said Soraya Sobhrang, a commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. “In conducting virginity tests, no one asks for the consent of the victim or the suspect — 99 percent of the virginity tests are conducted by force and without considerations of its legality.”

Virginity tests in Kabul are usually conducted in a small room at the city’s main forensic center that looks more like a storage space than an examination facility. A narrow bed is tucked against the wall; several old computers and monitors are stored under it. The window is covered by a black cloth.

Khalil Ahmad Pashtoonyar, the government’s deputy director of forensic medicine, insisted that the center never forces women to undergo the examination. If a woman refuses, he said, the facility just sends the file back to the police stating that the subject did not consent.

But that does not speak to the continued pressure within families for women to remain obedient. That culture and tradition is so ingrained that the forensic center gets many cases that have not been forwarded to them by the police.

Newly married couples have arrived at the center after their weddings when the husbands suspected their wives had not been virgins, doctors said. Parents have also brought in young girls who may have damaged hymens so the forensic center can issue a certificate documenting the girl’s “purity” for some future husband.

Fear of social devastation has also given rise to underground businesses that promise to repair hymens — for as much $1,500, a large sum in Afghanistan.

In an interview with The New York Times, one woman, who was afraid to allow her name to be used, described how she and her mother had sought the repair procedure to hide from her fiancé that she had previously had sex. “It is a big deal in Afghanistan,” she said. “If your hymen is broken, it is finished — you fall into hell.”

But the cost was too high, and the woman decided she had to tell her fiancé. He called off the engagement and demanded that her family repay everything he had spent on her, she said.

Some women are put through the tests several times.

One girl in northern Jowzjan Province who had run away with a young man was arrested and sent to the hospital for an examination, which showed that her hymen had been damaged, said Humaira Qarizada, the manager of the aid group Women for Afghan Women in Jowzjan. The girl was sentenced to three months in prison, Ms. Qarizada said, but that was not the end of it.

“Soon she was released when a second test in the same hospital revealed that she was still a virgin,” Ms. Qarizada said.

For the girl who survived the mob attack in Kabul last July and was arrested and ordered to be examined, the test at the forensic medical center showed that her hymen was still intact, according to records at the center seen by The Times.

Still, she was held for 40 days at the children’s detention center, according to her father. (The Times is not using his name because his daughter, who is a minor, could be identifiable.)

He said that the public shame of the mob’s accusation forced him to send her away to stay with family in a different province.

On the day she left, he said, the girl wrote him a letter expressing regret, but insisting: “I have done nothing wrong.”

(Source: NYT)