Maharashtra accepts ministry protocol on medico-legal care for rape survivors

“We heard several voices and many players participated in the debate. It is a step in the right direction and orders will be issued to all hospitals and healthcare facilities on the protocol to be followed while providing medico-legal care to survivors or victims of sexual violence,” Saunik said.

[related-post]

“This is a welcome move as it will do away with the two-finger test, unnecessary reference to hymen, height-weight of the survivors or sexual violence,” said Dr Seema Malik, former Chief Medical Superintendent of peripheral hospitals (Rajawadi, Bandra Bhabha and Cooper hospitals in Mumbai).

“At these peripheral hospitals that have been implementing the ministry’s protocol, more than 600 survivors have been provided care and gender-sensitive medico-legal examination facility. It is great that this practice of the peripheral hospitals will now be followed by all hospitals in Maharashtra and Mumbai,” Dr Malik said.

Maharashtra is now the ninth state implementing the protocol, which offers a tool for the doctors to communicate with such survivors, points out Sangeeta Rege, senior research officer with the Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT), adding it was a welcome order. Manisha Tulpule, a lawyer who supports survivors of sexual violence and a child welfare committee member, too welcomed the order and said the ministry guidelines were extremely comprehensive on how rape survivors or victims of sexual violence should be cared for while helping them to deal with the trauma.

The protocol/guidelines have specially been drawn up for rape cases and in other cases of sexual violence as well. While the ministry came up with the guidelines in 2013, the state, via its order August 7 this year, has now accepted it.