The two-finger test, so called for its use of the doctor’s index and middle fingers to check for the presence and status of the survivor’s hymen, was banned in 2018 for being pseudo-science, as well as traumatic and humiliating for survivors.

But the physical examination carried out in hospitals is still not trauma-sensitive, as evidenced in survivors’ accounts.

Remember the 13-year-old girl from Kamrangirchar, who was raped for a year by her father’s employer because her dad owed him Tk 6,000? According to her testimony, her physical examination was done at the gynecological emergency ward of Dhaka Medical College Hospital without any semblance of privacy.

“I was taken to a ward on the second floor where there were a lot of women lying on beds,” the girl told this correspondent.

“I was taken to a bed, asked to remove my clothes, lie down, and close my eyes. I asked them to pull the curtains, but they told me that there are two police aunties present and that I have nothing to be afraid of.”