‘VIRGIN’ NOW ‘UNMARRIED’ IN PATNA INSTITUTE FORM

PATNA: The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna amended its marital declaration form on Thursday, replacing the word ‘virgin’ with ‘unmarried’ after controversy.

Until now, new recruits to the super-specialty medical institute in the state capital were required to declare if they were bachelors, widowers or virgins.

IGIMS medical superintendent Dr Manish Mandal said institute director Dr NR Biswas held a meeting on Thursday morning before directing that the word ‘virgin’ on the marital declaration form be immediately replaced with ‘unmarried’.

Dr Biswas had just returned after a four-day leave of absence.

Earlier, Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey had ended up redefining the very meaning of virginity in his attempts to justify the awkward phrasing of the question in the form.

Following a public furore over the document on Wednesday, the minister told news channels that there was nothing wrong with using the word ‘virgin’ because it simply meant ‘kanya’ or ‘kunwari’ – which means an unmarried girl.

Pandey had joined the cabinet just three days ago.

Sources said the chief minister’s office had also taken cognisance of the issue, and asked for a copy of the form.

It had even asked why the question was introduced in the first place.