Govt must create a strong law against FGM: Report

The Female Genital Mutation is being practiced among some religious communities across the country, inflicting irrevocable damage to the physical and mental condition of the women born in the respective communities. There is no doubt that the women, who have been victimised by this tradition, have not been subjected to it voluntarily because this is being performed in an age in which the victim has no mental ability to take any decision independently. The report prepared by a group of Dawoodi Bohra women, a human rights NGO, and the Lawyers Collective has covered all areas related to this issue: the mental and physical trauma faced by the victims, the international laws related to the FGM, the anti-FGM laws implemented in other countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, France and even Africa, the necessity to implement a strong law in India in order to eliminate the practice, the FGM’s relation with the religion and tradition, the ineffective use of available laws related to the practice in our country, and what kind of policies and law our country should take if it want to bring the situation under control. The FGM, popularly called as ‘Khatna’, is mainly practiced in Dawoodi Bohra community. Earlier, Maneka Gandhi, the Central Women and Child Development Minster, warned that the government would implement strong laws against the FGM if the communities continue to practice it. She also urged the communities, who are practising it, to stop it voluntarily. Experts say that the issue should not be linked with religion or tradition. All inhuman traditions and practices should be eliminated, they add.

Vignesh

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