Noting it to be an “extremely important and sensitive” issue, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to respond to a plea seeking a “complete ban on inhuman practice” of alleged female genital mutilation of minor girls belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar asked a response from the Woman and Child Development Ministry and States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi, where Dawoodi Bohras, who are Shia Muslims, predominantly reside.
The Bench was hearing a PIL plea by Delhi-based lawyer Sunita Tiwari against the practice of ‘khatna’ or “female genital mutilation.”
The plea sought the practice to be classified as a “non-compoundable and non-bailable” offence.
The Ministries of Law and Justice, Social Justice and Empowerment have also been made parties in the plea which referred to various conventions of the United Nations, to which India is a signatory.
“The practice of female genital mutilation results in serious violations of basic fundamental rights of the victims who in these cases are minors... it is performed illegally upon girls (between five years and before she attains puberty) and is against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which is India is a signatory,” the petition said.
It added that the practice caused “permanent disfigurement of the body of a girl child.” It amounts to causing inequality between the sexes and constituted discrimination against women. The practice is without any medical reason and does not have any reference in the Koran, the plea said.
