4 min readNew DelhiSep 4, 2024 09:55 PM IST
First published on: Sep 4, 2024 at 04:20 AM IST
The National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s apex medical education regulator, has revised the forensic medicine curriculum for undergraduate medical students, bringing back “sodomy and lesbianism” under the category of unnatural sexual offences.
The curriculum has also brought back topics such as importance of hymen, definition of virginity and defloration, and its legitimacy and medico-legal importance, which had been done away with in 2022 when the module was modified in accordance with the directions of the Madras High Court.
The revised curriculum does away with the distinction between consensual sex between queer individuals, adultery and offences such as incest and bestiality, which the NMC had introduced in 2022 to make the education more friendly to LGBTQ+ community.
The module on virginity was modified in 2022 on the recommendations of an expert committee constituted on directions of the Madras High Court to train students on how to apprise the courts about unscientific basis of these tests if the court orders it.
Changes were also made to the psychiatry module of the curriculum in 2022 to help the students better understand sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. While the module on psychiatry no longer mentions detailed topics such as difference between sex and gender identity and common myths and misconceptions, it has not completely slid back. The psychiatry module does not state that students should be taught about “gender identity disorders”.
Under forensic medicine, the revised curriculum says students will be taught about the appropriate provisions of the new laws — Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). It also mentions the appropriate provisions for cases such as rape, injury, and protection of children from sexual offences.
ExplainedChanges brought by NMC in 2022
The 2022 modifications were made on directions of the Madras High Court. They included removing sodomy and lesbianism from unnatural sexual offences, making a distinction between sexual fetishes such as voyeurism, exhibitionism, or masochism and mental disorders stemming from such atypical interests, and teaching that two-finger test for virginity is “unscientific, inhuman, and discriminatory”.
The changes in the curriculum have been uploaded on the NMC website. No specific reason has been cited for the revision. Repeated attempts to reach senior NMC officials regarding the changes remained unsuccessful.
The revised curriculum, meanwhile, does away with the seven-hour training about disability as part of the foundation course. It also does not include topics on disability in its module on medical ethics, a point raised by disability rights activists.
“These competencies should have been integrated longitudinally throughout the curriculum but are conspicuously absent from the 2024 curriculum,” states a letter to written to Union Health Minister J P Nadda by disability rights activist Dr Satendra Singh and Dr Sanjay Sharma from the Association of Transgender Health in India.
“We, therefore, appeal to you to use the influence of your high office to correct this wrong which not only directly impacts the interests of persons with disabilities, the transgender and gender-diverse individuals, persons with differences in sexual orientation and persons with differences in sex development, but also damages the image of our nation in the international fora,” the letter states.
Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum was first introduced in 2019 by the Medical Council of India. This is the first time the new body — National Medical Commission, which took over from the MCI — has released a complete CBME.
The revised curriculum does away with the distinction between consensual sex between queer individuals, adultery and offences such as incest and bestiality, which the NMC had introduced in 2022 to make the education more friendly to LGBTQ+ community. (Representational) 
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