Kanjarbhat community members demonstrate in support of the virginity ritual in Pune, India. The group demanded police action and a public apology from a group of young people who have spoken out against the tradition. (Hindustan Times/Getty Images)

PUNE, India — In the run-down neighborhood of Bhatnagar in this sleepy Indian city, a small rebellion is underway. The new generation of the close-knit Kanjarbhat community is staging protests at weddings to end the centuries-old practice of virginity tests.

The tests typically happen like this: The bride and groom consummate their marriage on a white cloth. The virgin bride proves her “purity” by staining the cloth with blood from her broken hymen. The following day, a council of community elders publicly asks the groom, “Were the goods pure?”

Virginity tests are rare in modern India and happen only in small pockets, such as among the Kanjarbhat, a once-ostracized tribe. But the predominantly Hindu country is seeing waves of change brought about by a new generation that has benefited from policies ensuring that members of India’s lower castes, long disadvantaged in the hierarchical social system, receive an education and employment opportunities. And members of the younger generation have focused much of their attention on women’s rights, pitting them against community elders who want to uphold ancestral traditions and value systems.

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