Assamese women’s groups are up in arms over a shocking incident in Nalbari district where the local administration arrested Rita Dutta and Rani Bhattacharyya, allegedly without a warrant, kept them in the Belsor police station for two days and ordered “virginity tests” on them after a news report said they had acted in pornographic films.
According to Sumitra Hazarika, president of the United Platform of Oppression Against Women, they were forced to take the test at the district civil hospital under a male gynaecologist despite their request for a female doctor. Outraged, the women’s groups have now moved the Assam Human Rights Commission.