The Maharashtra government in India will soon make forcing a woman to undergo virginity test a punishable offence, it said Wednesday. Certain communities in the state follow a custom whereby a newly-wed woman has to prove that she was virgin prior to the marriage.

Ranjeet Patil, the Minister of State for Home, met a delegation of some social organisations on the issue Wednesday. Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe was also a part of the delegation. ‘Virginity test will be considered a form of sexual assault...after consultations with the Law and Judiciary department, a circular will be issued declaring it a punishable offence,’ the minister told reporters later, reports the Press Trust of India.

The demeaning custom is allegedly followed in the Kanjarbhat community, among others. Some youths from the community have launched an online campaign against it.

Patil, meanwhile, also said his department will hold a bi-monthly review of cases of sexual assault, and ensure low pendency of such cases in the courts.

The Kanjarbhats are a denotified tribe that migrated from Rajasthan to parts of Western Maharashtra and Gujarat. The community are governed by their own set of codified rules and a caste panchayat. As part of the Kanjarbhat caste tradition, a bride is subjected to a ‘character test’ on the wedding night. The husband and wife consumate their marriage on a white cloth in a lodge immediately after getting married, reports business-standard.com. The women remove the bride’s jewellery and any sharp objects from the room. The boy is sent inside with a white sheet. If by any chance the bride doesn’t bleed, there is a meeting fixed with the community elders and a penalty paid to approve the wedding.

The caste councils oversee this test. Family members remain outside the lodge and continue to ask if it is going well, reports indianexpress.com. If the girl bleeds, she passes the test. They declare, ‘Maal Khara hai’. If she does not, it is assumed she has had premarital sex, and they say ‘Maal khota hai’, meaning she is ‘spoiled goods’, and the marriage can be annulled. ‘The caste panchayat then ask her who she has had intercourse with,’ says Siddhant, who lives in Kanjarbhat Nagar in Yerwada, Pune. ‘She is often beaten up, her family is ostracised, and asked to pay a hefty fine to settle the matter. Whoever defies the Kanjarbhat law book is subject to a social boycott.’