Modi government must ban female genital mutilation

The Modi government, which has been tom-toming female empowerment should look at banning Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting or Khafd and not just triple talaq.

“It was imperative that the Indian government pass a law banning FGM/C. “Such a law, we believe should pay specific attention to criminalize the act of performing FGM/C and primarily target medical practitioners and circumcisers who perform the procedure. It would be similar to the campaign to end sex selective abortions where the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Technique (PCPNDT) Act,” said Masooma Ranalvi, who founded WeSpeakOut, a survivor-led movement to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting.

At least 75% of daughters (aged seven years and above) of all Bohra Muslims are subjected to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting or Khafd and 97% of the women who remembered their childhood experience have recalled it as painful, states a study. In fact, approximately 33% of women subjected to Khafd believe FGM/C has negatively impacted their sexual life. Low sex drive, inability to feel sexual pleasure, difficulty trusting sexual partners, and over sensitivity in the clitoral area were some of the problems identified by several women.

Khafd or FGM/C is practised by Bohra muslims in India. Majority of Bohras practice Type 1 FGM/C (partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or clitoral hood/prepuce). Supporters of Khafd in India claim that Bohras only practice Type 1a (removal of clitoral hood only) and Type 4 FGM/C (pricking, piercing, cauterisation), however, participants in the study, which included a gynaecologist, reported that both Types 1a and 1b (partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or clitoral hood) are commonly practiced with very few cases of Type 4 FGM/C.

In a report titled “The Clitoral Hood a Contested Site: Khafd in India” released by WeSpeakOut on the occasion of UN’s international Day for Zero Tolerance for FGM, the survivors have reported feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, anger, depression, low self-esteem, and difficulty trusting people as some of the fallouts of their FGM/C experience.

According to the study many participants in the study reported feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, anger, depression, low self-esteem, and difficulty trusting people as some of the fallouts of their FGM/C experience.

The extent of Khafd also varies by geography, between states and from urban to semi-urban sites. In big metropolitan cities like Mumbai, people reported that they enjoyed a degree of anonymity and less surveillance by the community that would allow them the freedom to not perform Khafd and still be unnoticed Around 79% of respondents in medium cities and small towns had subjected their daughter to FGM/C. Comparatively a slightly lower percentage of parents in big cities (50%) had subjected their daughters to Khafd.

The anti-FGM/C movement, by WeSpeakOut and Sahiyo, revealed a generational difference in the opposition to Khafd. More younger women were vocal about their opposition to the practice and their intention to end it.

The report has called out the Ministry for Women and Child Development, for submitting to the Supreme Court in December 2017, that, “At present there is no official data or study (by National Crime Records Bureau, etc.), which supports the existence of FGM in India.” They have demanded that the Central government must stop denying the existence of Khafd (the practice of circumcision of the girl child) and act to end it. The harmful traditional practice violates several of India’s obligations under numerous international treaties and violates many rights of women and girls enshrined in the constitution.

“Anti-Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting legislation must primarily target providers of Khafd. A targeted, grassroots level outreach program needs to be implemented reaching younger women (19-30 years) in medium cities and small towns with higher concentrations of Bohras,” added Ranalvi.

The report recommends that the government ask the Indian Medical Association to issue a zero-tolerance policy on FGM/C, because it violates a fundamental code of medical ethics, which is “First do no harm.”