A bizarre incident was recently reported from Bhuj in Gujarat. 68 hostel girls were allegedly made to remove their undies to prove they weren’t menstruating. Well, it’s not even a week and another horrific one had made it to the spotlight.
This time, female trainee clerks of Surat Municipal Corporation were made to strip and stand naked in a government hospital, while the lady doctors did a finger test. The adult females were also asked several intimidating personal questions.
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TOI reported that the horrific incident came to light when a complaint was lodged by an employee at the Surat Municipal Corporation Employee Union (SMCEU) with municipal commissioners. A senior corporation employee was quoted as saying:
“Female employees were forced to stand naked together in groups of around 10 in a room where they did not have any privacy. The door was not properly closed and the only thing blocking the view from outside was a curtain.”
The mandatory fitness test was conducted by the Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER) on around 100 employees for confirmation of an employee’s service on completion of the three-year probation.
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Apart from subjecting them to the finger test, many including unmarried women were reportedly asked if they had ever been pregnant. Some women also alleged that the lady doctors who conducted the controversial test were behaving rudely with them.
However, the male trainees underwent a general fitness test that included eye, ENT, heart and lung tests, besides an overall check-up. General Secretary of the employees’ union, AA Shaikh said, “The issue was brought to the knowledge of SMCEU by a few trainee women employees out of the nearly 400 whose services will be regularised this year. On hearing about their trauma we demand an immediate halt to such insulting and inhuman tests. I have never heard such a test on women employees anywhere else.”
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Shaikh further added, “If they (doctors) had any doubt about an employee’s health, they should have got tests done in an acceptable manner. Asking even unmarried women about past pregnancies is downright insulting.” The head of the gynaecology department at the hospital, Ashwin Vachhani reportedly said:
“We have to examine women physically since it is mandatory as per the guidelines. I don’t know if such tests are done on men, but in case of women we follow rules to find out if they have any specific illness.”
A female 45-year-old female employee in the hospital informed that ‘she had taken a fitness test around 20 years ago, but it did not involve any such procedures.’
In reference to the complaint received, deputy municipal commissioner (health), A K Naik, said, “I have received a complaint from the SMCEU. It will be sent to the superintendent of the hospital. After proper inquiry, they will submit a report to the municipal commissioner.”
It is sad that even in the 21st century, women have to undergo such absurd virginity tests in the public eye.