Indian doc held for ‘genital mutilation’

DETROIT, MI — An Indian American emergency room doctor practising at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, was arrested on April 12 and charged with performing genital mutilation on two seven-year-old girls from Minnesota.

Jumana Nagarwala was charged with violating a law that prohibits female genital mutilation – also known as clitoridectomy – and for transporting the girls with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

The criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan defines sexual activity in this case as “the touching of genitalia with the intent to abuse, humiliate, harass or degrade.”

“Nagarwala’s removal of clitoral skin from seven-year-old minor females is a sexual activity that violates both state and federal law,” noted FBI special agent Kevin Swanson in the complaint.

Female genital mutilation involves partial or total removal of a girl’s clitoris, and – in some cases – the skin surrounding the clitoris and the inner folds of the vulva.

The ritual is practiced in an attempt to suppress female sexuality and promiscuity, and to keep a girl “pure” until she is married, according to a UNICEF report.