Survey reveals shocking facts about Female Genital Mutilation in Bohra community

There is no data about Female Genital Mutilation in India but a new study has shown that 75 per cent of 94 respondents interviewed had subjected their daughters to the practice. The study is titled  “The Clitoral Hood A Contested Site”, was released on Monday on the day for Zero Tolerance for FGM.

The detailed study was conducted by independent researchers Lakshmi Anantnarayan, Shabana Diler and Natasha Menon along with WeSpeakOut, a coalition of Bohra women against FGM and the women’s rights organisation Nari Samata Manch.

The respondent who recalled the FGM as children called it very painful. It also known as as khafz in the Bohra community (a Shia Muslim sect), the procedure involves partial or complete removal of the clitoral hood or the clitoris once the girl is seven years old.

33 percent of female respondent said FGM had huge impact on their sexual life, while 10 percent of the respondent reported having frequent urinary tract infections, and incontinence, with one reported case of excessive bleeding. And majority of female respondent felt low self-esteem, shame, betrayal anger and also suffered from depression.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who released the FGM report Monday said the government has chosen to go only after triple talaq “so as to score political points” instead of taking on the “politically more challenging” issue of FGM among Bohras.

“In this particular case (FGM), it is a specific wrong done within a specific community…Therefore, it should be seen as a human rights issue involving the rights and dignity of Indian women. It doesn’t matter to me which community is doing it,” said Tharoor.

The Dawoodi Bohra Women’s Association for Religious Freedom (DBWRF), who are in favour of the practice, also issued a statement Monday disapproving the study. Samina Kanchwala, Secretary, DBWRF said khafz is circumcision and not mutilation. “Khafz is a harmless cultural/religious practice unique to the Dawoodi Bohra community. We reiterate that there is no place for any kind of mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra religion and culture.”