The “marital declaration” form at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna has stirred quite a lot of controversy in the past two days. To get away with all the controversy and confusion, the word ‘virgin’ has been totally removed from the form, and it has been replaced with ‘married’.
Earlier, clarifying the confusion, Bihar health minister, Mangal Pandey had said that a virgin is an unmarried girl. His statement came as an awkward comment, that was meant to justify a government hospital from, and required doctors and other staff to declare their virginity or the number of times they have been married.
“I have looked up ‘virgin’ in the dictionary. It means Kanya, kunwari (girl, unmarried) Punya Bhumi…I don’t see anything objectionable in this,” said Pandey.
He was responding to the “marital declaration” form circulated at the medical institute.
In the form, applicants have been asked to declare whether they are bachelors, widowers or virgins; whether they are married and have only “one wife living” or if they have more than one wife. Women have been asked to testify whether they are married to a person, who has a wife or not.
The minister said he had been told that the form follows the same format that the premier AIIMS hospital in Delhi follows.
“Since 1983, this format has been followed all over the country. ” he told the media.
