Open AccessPotency test of a rape accused in India – Rationale, problems and suggestions in light of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013
Author(s) -
Shadab Raheel,
Abhishek Yadav,
Shashank Pooniya,
Sudhir Kumar Gupta,
AK Jaiswal
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
egyptian journal of forensic sciences/egyptian journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.238
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2090-5939
pISSN - 2090-536X
DOI - 10.1016/j.ejfs.2016.11.004
Subject(s) - law , test (biology) , sexual assault , criminology , political science , criminal law , psychology , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , medical emergency , paleontology , biology
Indian legal system makes it mandatory to medically examine any accused of rape as well as other forms of sexual assault. Accused is brought in the police custody for conducting medical examination which includes general physical examination, potency test and evidence collection. The medical examination report of the accused is labeled as the “POTENCY TEST REPORT”. As per the changed definition of rape after Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, potency test stands irrelevant in rape cases because the changed law does not require peno-vaginal intercourse to call it as rape. However, even after the change in definition of rape and laws related to it, potency test is still a mandatory part of medical examination of accused. Displeasure about the same has also been raised by a fast track court of Delhi. In this paper, we have discussed the rationale of potency test of sexual assault in light of Criminal Law Amendment Act (2013), court judgment and other available literature