Women Aren’t Commodities, Ban ‘Virginity Test’: Kanjarbhat Youth

It’s illegal, archaic and regressive – yet the practice continues. Young women of the Kanjarbhat community are subjected to a virginity test on their wedding night.

Here’s how the event unfolds: the newly weds are escorted to a room by their family and members of the caste panchayat. After removing any sharp object like jewellery and hair pins, the couple is handed a white bed sheet.

The humiliation doesn’t end there.

The day after the wedding, the entire caste panchayat gathers with other members of the village and ask the groom: “Was the bride ‘fine’?” If the girl is a virgin, the boy says, “maal khara (good product)” three times. If the bride is not a virgin, she is asked who she lost her virginity to and both are penalised.

Siddhanth Indrekar, student

The ‘penalty’ is mostly monetary and varies from woman to woman. Unwillingness of the girl or the boy’s family to pay up results in them being socially boycotted. Unwillingness to participate in the bizarre ritual too gets the family ostracised, as 51-year-old Krishna Indrekar and his wife Aruna found out.

Indrekar, a member of the Kanjarbhat community, married Aruna in 1996. The couple opted for a registry marriage as they refused to participate in the virginity test rituals. The repercussion of their action haunts them to this day.

We went back to the village to seek blessings of our family after opting for a court marriage. Just six days after we got married, Kanjarbhat panchayat members from Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra came together to meet us. Because we didn’t undergo the virginity test, they penalised our respective families, took Rs 50,000 from them, and socially boycotted the two of us.

Krishna Indrekar, director of accounts, Maharashtra Charity Commissioner

Since then, the Indrekars have been constantly organising meetings with the Panchayat committee members and the youth of Kanjarbhat community to create awareness and abolish the virginity test.

I could have undergone the virginity test when they asked me to, but I didn’t want to. Why should I? If educated people like us cannot say ‘no’ and change the system, then what option to the uneducated have? Because of these tests, our women cannot go out and study or work, as the families feel that if a girl goes out to get educated, she won’t be ‘good’ anymore.

Aruna Indrekar, homemaker

The couple now motivates youngsters to come together and protest the archaic practice. Vivek Tamaichekar, a masters’ student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a member of the Kanjarbhat community, started a WhatsApp group called ‘Stop The V-Ritual.’

The group now has over 40 members. While many continue to join the fight, some are forced to distance themselves after being pressurised by their family members.

I was pressurised not to speak up on this issue. A lot of things were said about me, but my stand is clear – I stand against the virginity tests. This is happening is the 21st century and it is wrong. This hurts the dignity of women and their families. We respect the Panchayat committee and acknowledge their authority, so if families are practicing these rituals, they should step in and ask them not to.

Priyanka Tamaichekar, working professional

Reiterating the importance of speaking up on the issue, Tamaichekar said, “Tomorrow, I might get married, so this doesn’t only concern me but all the women of the community. That’s why we must speak up now.”

Twenty-one-year-old Siddhant Indrekar decided to take his fight against the virginity test a step further – he filed a police complaint.

On 23 November 2017, my cousin was getting married. That’s when I told the Panchayat members who were present at the wedding that they shouldn’t take money from the families or perform virginity test rituals, and threatened to record them on my phone if they did. They refused to listen to me. That’s when I called the police and filed a complaint the next day.     

Siddhanth Indrekar, student

Meanwhile, we reached out to the Panchayat members who refused to comment on the issue. They said that the community are meeting on 7 January and would speak on the issue only after the meeting is held.