School of Law, Presidency University

Ittgalpura, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Structure Of Indian Society Assignment

Female Genital Mutilation/
Cutting – An Overview

by
Name : Gagan Kumar B R
Roll No : 20231BAL0001
Subject : Structure of Indian Society
Course : B.A.L.L.B(SEC 1)
Submitted To : Prof. Nidhi Kulkarni

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 Content

1. FGM/C Introduction 3

2. Reason for performing FGM/C 4

3. Types of FGM/C 5

4. Effects of FGM/C on Women 7

5. FGM/C violates Children’s Rights 8

6. UN Declaration 10

7. FGM/C in India 11

8. FGM/C Looked at in terms of Right to Privacy13

9. Comparison with Male Circumcision 14

10. WeSpeakOut 14

11. Conclusion 15

12. Citations/References 16

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 Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting
(FGM/C)

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), sometimes called female circumcision

or female genital mutilation, means piercing, cutting, removing, or sewing closed all
or part of a girl’s or woman’s external genitals for no medical reason. FGM/C is often
a part of the culture in countries where it is practiced. But FGM/C has no health
benefits and can cause long-term health problems.
Until the 1980s, FGM was widely known in English as "female circumcision",
implying an equivalence in severity with male circumcision. From 1929 the Kenya
Missionary Council referred to it as the sexual mutilation of women, following the
lead of Marion Scott Stevenson, a Church of Scotland missionary. References to the
practice as mutilation increased throughout the 1970s. In 1975 Rose Oldfield Hayes,
an American anthropologist, used the term female genital mutilation in the title of a
paper in American Ethnologist, and four years later Fran Hosken called it mutilation
in her influential The Hosken Report: Genital and Sexual Mutilation of
Females. The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health
of Women and Children began referring to it as female genital mutilation in 1990, and
the World Health Organization (WHO) followed suit in 1991. Other English terms
include female genital cutting (FGC) and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C),
preferred by those who work with practitioners.
Most often, FGM is practiced on girls and young women under 18. FGM is not
prescribed by any religion and has no health benefits. On the contrary the practice can
cause life-lasting physical and psychological trauma.
200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM. At current rates, an
additional estimated 68 million girls face being cut by 2030.
The practice of FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights
of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and
constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against girls and women. It is nearly
always carried out by traditional practitioners on minors and is a violation of the rights
of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical
integrity; the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
and the right to life, in instances when the procedure results in death.
FGM/C is done mostly in parts of northern and central Africa, in the southern Sahara,
and in parts of the Middle East and Asia. Some immigrants in the United States and

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Western Europe from these countries also practice FGM/C, or may send their
daughters back to their family homeland
for FGM/C. Other immigrant families stop practicing FGM/C once they are in a new
country.

Reasons for Performing FGM/C

Different communities and cultures have different reasons for practicing FGM/C.
Social acceptability is the most common reason. Families often feel pressure to have
their daughter cut so she is accepted by their community.

Other reasons may include:

• Religious duty, although no religion’s holy texts require FGM/C

• Belief that FGM/C increases sexual pleasure for the man
• Condition of marriage. In some countries, a girl or woman is cut in order to be
considered suitable for marriage.
• Rite of passage. In some countries, FGM/C is a part of the ritual that a girl goes
through to be considered a woman.
• Hygiene. Some communities believe that the external female genitals that are cut
are unclean.
• To help ensure a woman remains a virgin until marriage

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Types of FGM/C
The World Health Organization describes four major types of FGM/C:

Type I
Type I is "partial or total removal of the clitoral glans (the external and visible part of
the clitoris, which is a sensitive part of the female genitals), and/or the prepuce/clitoral
hood (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoral glans)". Type I(a) involves removal of
the clitoral hood only. This is rarely performed alone. The more common procedure is
Type I(b) (clitoridectomy), the complete or partial removal of the clitoral glans (the
visible tip of the clitoris) and clitoral hood. The circumciser pulls the clitoral glans
with her thumb and index finger and cuts it off.

Type II
Type II (excision) is the complete or partial removal of the inner labia, with or
without removal of the clitoral glans and outer labia. Type II(a) is removal of the inner
labia; Type II(b), removal of the clitoral glans and inner labia; and Type II(c), removal
of the clitoral glans, inner and outer labia. Excision in French can refer to any form of
FGM.

Type III
Infibulation , the "sewn closed" category, is the removal of the external genitalia and
fusion of the wound. The inner and/or outer labia are cut away, with or without
removal of the clitoral glans. Type III is found largely in northeast Africa, particularly
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan (although not in South Sudan).
According to one 2008 estimate, over eight million women in Africa are living with

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Type III FGM. According to UNFPA in 2010, 20 percent of women with FGM have
been infibulated. In Somalia,
The vagina is opened for sexual intercourse, for the first time either by a midwife with
a knife or by the woman's husband with his penis. In some areas, including
Somaliland, female relatives of the bride and groom might watch the opening of the
vagina to check that the girl is a virgin. The woman is opened further for childbirth
(defibulation or deinfibulation), and closed again afterwards (reinfibulation).
Reinfibulation can involve cutting the vagina again to restore the pinhole size of the
first infibulation. This might be performed before marriage, and after childbirth,
divorce and widowhood. Hanny Lightfoot-Klein interviewed hundreds of women and
men in Sudan in the 1980s about sexual intercourse with Type III:
The penetration of the bride's infibulation takes anywhere from 3 or 4 days to several
months. Some men are unable to penetrate their wives at all (in my study over 15%),
and the task is often accomplished by a midwife under conditions of great secrecy,
since this reflects negatively on the man's potency. Some who are unable to penetrate
their wives manage to get them pregnant in spite of the infibulation, and the woman's
vaginal passage is then cut open to allow birth to take place. ... Those men who do
manage to penetrate their wives do so often, or perhaps always, with the help of the
"little knife". This creates a tear which they gradually rip more and more until the
opening is sufficient to admit the penis.

Type IV
Type IV Is a harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes",
including pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization. It includes nicking
of the clitoris (symbolic circumcision), burning or scarring the genitals, and
introducing substances into the vagina to tighten it. Labia stretching is also
categorized as Type IV. Common in southern and eastern Africa, the practice is
supposed to enhance sexual pleasure for the man and add to the sense of a woman as a
closed space. From the age of eight, girls are encouraged to stretch their inner labia
using sticks and massage. Girls in Uganda are told they may have difficulty giving
birth without stretched labia.

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Effects of FGM/C on Women
it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy
and normal female genital tissue, and it interferes with the natural functions of girls'
and women's bodies. Although all forms of FGM are associated with increased risk of
health complications, the risk is greater with more severe forms of FGM.
Immediate complications of FGM can include:

• severe pain
• excessive bleeding (haemorrhage)
• genital tissue swelling
• fever
• infections e.g., tetanus
• urinary problems
• wound healing problems
• injury to surrounding genital tissue
• shock
• death.
Long-term complications can include:

• urinary problems (painful urination, urinary tract infections);

• vaginal problems (discharge, itching, bacterial vaginosis and other infections);
• menstrual problems (painful menstruations, difficulty in passing menstrual blood,
etc.);
• scar tissue and keloid;
• sexual problems (pain during intercourse, decreased satisfaction, etc.);
• increased risk of childbirth complications (difficult delivery, excessive bleeding,
caesarean section, need to resuscitate the baby, etc.) and newborn deaths;
• need for later surgeries: for example, the sealing or narrowing of the vaginal
opening (type 3) may lead to the practice of cutting open the sealed vagina later to
allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth (deinfibulation). Sometimes genital
tissue is stitched again several times, including after childbirth, hence the woman
goes through repeated opening and closing procedures, further increasing both
immediate and long-term risks; and
• psychological problems (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, low
self-esteem, etc.).

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FGM/C violates Children's Rights

FGM is practised on girls usually in the range of 0-15 years. Hence, the practice of
FGM violates children’s rights as defined in the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC):

• The right to be free from discrimination (Article 2);

• The right to be protected from all forms of mental and physical
violence and maltreatment (Article 19(1));
• The right to highest attainable standard of health (Article 24);
• The right of freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment (Article 37).

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According to the UN Committee on CRC, “discrimination against girl children is a
serious violation of rights, affecting their survival and all areas of their young lives as
well as restricting their capacity to contribute positively to society” (2005).
Moreover, the negative effects of FGM on children’s development contravene the best
interest of the child - a central notion to the Convention (Article 3).
Because it is performed without the consent of the girls, it also breaches the right to
express freely one’s view (Article 12). Even if the girl child is aware of the
practice, the issue of consent remains, as girls are usually too young to be consulted
and have no voice in the decision made on their behalf by members of their family. On
the other hand, adolescent girls and women very often agree to undergo FGM because
they fear the non-acceptance of their communities, families and peers, according to
2008 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture.
FGM also impacts on the right to dignity and directly conflicts with the right to
physical integrity, as it involves the mutilation of healthy body parts.
The Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child has said that States party
to the Convention have an obligation “to protect adolescents from all harmful
traditional practices, such as early marriages, honour killings and female genital
mutilation”.

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UN Declaration

In December 1993, the United Nations General Assembly included FGM in resolution
48/104, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and from
2003 sponsored International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation,
held every 6 February. UNICEF began in 2003 to promote an evidence-based social
norms approach, using ideas from game theory about how communities reach
decisions about FGM, and building on the work of Gerry Mackie on the demise of
foot binding in China. In 2005 the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence
published its first report on FGM. UNFPA and UNICEF launched a joint program in
Africa in 2007 to reduce FGM by 40 percent within the 0–15 age group and eliminate
it from at least one country by 2012, goals that were not met and which they later
described as unrealistic. In 2008 several UN bodies recognized FGM as a human-
rights violation, and in 2010 the UN called upon healthcare providers to stop carrying
out the procedures, including reinfibulation after childbirth and symbolic nicking. In
2012 the General Assembly passed resolution 67/146, "Intensifying global efforts for
the elimination of female genital mutilations".

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FGM/C In India
Research shows 75% incidence of female genital mutilation in Bohra Muslim
community, FGM is practiced among a few sects in India, including
the Dawoodi, Suleimani and Alvi Bohras and a few Sunni sub-sects in Kerala.2 This
cultural practice called khafd has been performed for
generations in these communities and many consider it a necessary rite of passage
towards becoming a ‘good’ woman. It must also be pointed out that supporters of
khafd claim that what is practised in India, is not FGM at all, because “it is just a nick
on the clitoral hood, which is just useless skin anyway”.3 The Dawoodi Bohra
Women’s Association for Religious Freedom asserts that khafd and FGM are “entirely
different” practices.
The qualitative research, which was released in February, shows the prevalence of
FGM among India’s Bohra Muslims – 75% of respondents said they had subjected
their daughters to the practice. The survey was conducted with respondents in
communities across the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan
and Kerala.
In accordance with the World Health Organization classification, the study reveals that
all the affected women had undergone FGM type 1, the partial or total removal of the
clitoris.
While FGM is well documented worldwide, in India the tradition is veiled in secrecy.
Bohra girls are often lured by the promise of clothes or sweets to undergo the practice,
which is carried out either by mullanis – traditional cutters – or doctors.
Around 1.5 million Bohra Muslims are scattered around several countries, including
the UK. In India alone, the Bohra community is believed to number one million. The
Shia sect is a minority within India’s Muslim population – 14.2% of the total
population, according to the latest census.
The syedna, the main Bohra leader, has encouraged devotees to continue both “male
and female circumcision” as their “obligation” to attain “religious purity”.
“Khafd isn’t mentioned in any religious text, particularly in the Qur’an. But some
devotees blindly follow the syedna while others are too scared to disobey because they
fear they will be ostracised,” said Irfan A Engineer, vice-president of the Central
Board of the Dawoodi Bohr Community, a reformist faction of more than 50,000
members around India that has opposed the syedna’s authoritarian leadership for
decades.

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R. Ghadially a woman who was a victim of FGM hasa published paper named All for
‘Izzat’ on her experience of undergoin this procedure at a tender young age when she
didn’t even know what was happening to her I have the paper attached in the
references if one wishes to read further
Sunita Tiwari, A human rights advocate, Sunita Tiwari filed a writ petition [WP (C)
No. 286/2017] against this practice arguing that it is unconstitutional. A counter-
affidavit filed questioned the reasoning of this stand. Due to the multifarious issues
intertwined with the criticality of the subject for the religious sect, the matter
was referred to a larger five-judge Constitution Bench in 2018.

In Sunita Tiwari v Union of India the key issues that the court framed were
1. Does the practice of female circumcision violate the right to privacy of the girls
on whom the procedure is performed without their consent?
2. Does the practice violate the right to life and bodily autonomy of women and
girls, and infringe on Article 21 of the Constitution?
3. Does the practice discriminate against women and girls, and does it violate
Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution?
4. Is the practice protected as a religious practice under Articles 25 and 26 of the
Constitution?

Arguments in favor of a ban

She argues that the practice is discriminatory against women, violating Dawoodi
Bohra women’s right to equality, right to privacy, and right to personal liberty.
Ms. Tiwari draws attention to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) report on
FGM. The WHO has classified FGM as a gross violation of the human rights of girls
and women. It violates the fundamental guarantees provided by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, FGM is a serious health concern as it can
cause infections, problems relating to childbirth, and other severe physical
impairments. In December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
unanimous resolution which called for the elimination of FGM.

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Arguments against a ban
The majority of Dawoodi Bohras are opposed to a ban. They argue that circumcision
is a religious practice and hence is protected under Articles 25 and 26 of the
Constitution.
They disagree with the claim that their practice is discriminatory against women. Both
women and men in the community are required to be circumcised.
Mr. A.M. Singhvi, a lawyer representing members of the community, argues against
using ‘female genital mutilation’ to describe the community’s practice. He claims that
female circumcision is practiced in a safe and non-mutilating manner by Dawoodi
Bohras. Mr. Singhvi questions the relevance of the WHO’s report, given that it
pertains to FGM, not circumcision.

FGM/C looked at In terms of Right to Privacy

In Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1962), the Court had held that the right
to live under Article 21 is not mere animal existence, but is much beyond physical
survival, and mandated that domiciliary visits by police officials were
unconstitutional. While the Court fell short of giving the right to privacy constitutional
authority, it set the stage for the same.

In K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) filled this gap by enshrining the right
to privacy as a fundamental right. Justice Chandrachud, in the plurality
opinion, cites the various dimensions of privacy, of which decisional autonomy is an
important component. An individual’s capacity to make decisions about their sexual or
reproductive behaviour and their decisions regarding intimate relationships reflects
their decisional privacy.
The practice of khatna is effectually non-consensual in nature and deprives a woman
of the decisional autonomy as to whether she wants to undergo a procedure that is
highly consequential. It is notable that the surgery can lead to urinary or vaginal
complications, which are often accompanied by the psychological trauma of losing the
trust of a loved one – who took the decision, or even post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Comparison with Male Circumcision and the Right to
Equality
The respondents to the case have cited the example of male circumcision, which all
followers of the Islamic faith are to undergo, and argued that a selective ban on khatna
or female circumcision would lead to a violation of the egalitarian principles under
Articles 14 and 15.
The argument aims to obfuscate the matter further. At the outset, a law banning khatna
would make an unreasonable classification between the two sexes which constitute
“like classes,” but one has to confront the fact that circumcision has different
physiological implications for both men and women. So, they cannot be equated as
like classes in such a case.

WeSpeakOut
In India WeSpeakOut started by Masooma Ranalvi Who herself is a victim of FGM
runs this organisation that is dedicated to ‘the rights of Bohra women in all spheres of
life. Specifically, on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)/Khafz, we all agree
that the practice has no place in our lives and want it banned.’
In December 2015, 17 women from the Speak Out on FGM group put their names to a
very public petition directed to India’s Union Minister for Women and Child
Development, Maneka Gandhi, to demand a law against FGM in India as there is
currently no law on the books. With the seat of the Bohra leadership based in India
and the majority of Bohras residing there, it was important to push for an anti-FGM
law so that Bohra girls would have some protection. In 11 months, the petition
exceeded 82,000 signatures with many Bohras expressing their support to end the
practice within our community.

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Conclusion
The documentation of experiences of women who have been subject to FGM shows
that the practice constitutes not just a legal wrong, but also leads to long-lasting
physical and psychological trauma.
When practiced on children without their consent, it also stands as an impediment to
their right to bodily autonomy and to a life of dignity. At the same time, it must also be
noted that since FGM is practised in smaller and marginalized communities, it is also
used in popular discourse to “name and shame” those communities, without an effort
to first fully integrate them into modern cultural contexts. The nations that provide for
specific anti-FGM laws are Western states where the perpetrators are mainly
marginalized communities formed of immigrants and religious minorities. On the
other hand, states where instances of FGM are the most prevalent have no effective
system of curbing such practices. In such a situation, the nature of the legislation is of
paramount importance. The need of the hour is a more comprehensive social
legislation that furthers the understanding of both discrimination and sexual abuse,
and which aims to eradicate them.

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 Citations/References

End. What is FGM? End FGM. Published 2020. Accessed March 10, 2024.
https://www.endfgm.eu/female-genital-mutilation/what-is-fgm/

World. Female genital mutilation. Who.int. Published February 5, 2024. Accessed March 10,
2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) frequently asked questions. United Nations Population
Fund. Published 2022. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-
genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions

Ban on Female Genital Mutilation - Supreme Court Observer. Supreme Court Observer.
Published October 19, 2021. Accessed March 10, 2024.
https://www.scobserver.in/cases/sunita-tiwari-union-of-india-ban-on-female-genital-
mutilation-case-background/

Law. Examining the Constitutionality of Female Genital Mutilation in India. Law School
Policy Review & Kautilya Society. Published December 21, 2022. Accessed March 10, 2024.
https://lawschoolpolicyreview.com/2022/12/21/examining-the-constitutionality-of-female-
genital-mutilation-in-india/

We Speak Out: For Women’s Rights. Wespeakout.org. Published 2020. Accessed March 10,
2024. https://www.wespeakout.org/

Martínez AL. “I was crying with unbearable pain”: study reveals extent of FGM in India. the
Guardian. Published March 6, 2018. Accessed March 10, 2024.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/06/study-reveals-fgm-india-
female-genital-mutilation

FGM/C Research Initiative. www.fgmcri.org. Accessed March 10, 2024.

https://www.fgmcri.org/media/uploads/Continent%20Research%20and%20Resources/Asia/f
gm_lawyers_collective_doc__(1).pdf

Strategic Plan Strategic Plan End FGM EU.; 2023. Accessed March 10, 2024.
https://www.endfgm.eu/content/documents/reports/WEB-Strategic-Priorities-2023-2027.pdf

Female Genital Mutilation & Medicalisation. Accessed March 10, 2024.

https://www.endfgm.eu/content/documents/reports/Female-Genital-Mutilation-and-
Medicalisation-Paper-3.0-Final-Version.pdf

Ghadially, Rehana. “All for 'Izzat' The Practice of Female Circumcision among Bohra
Muslims.” (1991).

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