New Delhi: The Delhi High Court said Tuesday that a virginity test conducted on an accused during an investigation, whether she was in judicial or police custody, was unconstitutional under Article 21 – protection of life and personal liberty.
A single bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma thus ruled as unconstitutional the virginity test on Sister Stephy, who was convicted by a CBI court for the 1992 murder of Sister Abhaya in Kerala’s Kottayam.
Justice Sharma emphasised that Article 21 is not suspended during an investigation, and allowed Sister Stephy to seek compensation for the violation of her human rights after her criminal case is over.
The court on Tuesday was hearing a writ petition filed by Sister Stephy in 2009, questioning her virginity test.
In December 2020, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court had found Sister Stephy and priest Father Thomas Kattoor guilty in connection with the murder of 21-year-old nun Sister Abhaya.
The two were handed a life sentence, 28 years after the young nun was found dead in the well of St Pius Convent.
Another accused in the case, Father Poothrakayal was discharged earlier over lack of evidence.
The prosecution alleged that Abhaya was attacked with the handle of an axe because she was witness to alleged immoral activity involving the three accused.
The convicts then challenged the order in the Kerala High Court, which in June 2022, suspended the life sentence and granted bail to the duo.
The Kerala HC said there were serious inconsistencies in the statements of prosecution witnesses in the case.
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