Virginity tests of brides in Kanjarbhat community matter of serious concern: NCW

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has expressed serious concern over a media report about virginity tests of brides being forcefully conducted in the nomadic Kanjarbhat community, 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.

According to the media report, two instances of forced virginity test for brides in the Kanjarbhat community have come to the fore in Pune.

Sharma said the matter is of very serious concern for the commission.

"The practice is regressive, misogynistic and in violation of basic human rights and dignity," she said.

"I, therefore, urge your kind intervention in the matter and request that you may please ensure that the persons guilty of perpetrating such discriminatory, misogynistic practices may be appropriately punished so as to prevent such occurrences in the future," Sharma said in her letter to Munde.

"I would also request that any action taken in the matter may be intimated to the commission," she added.