The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a PIl seeking an end to the inhuman practice of female circumcision prevailing among a community of Shia Muslims in India, the Dawoodi Bohras.
The PIl by a Delhi-based lawyer, Sunita Tiwari, alleged that the inhuman practice involved mutilation of female genitals of young Bohra girls above five years of age which was a serious violation of woman’s fundamental rights.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar termed the issue to be “extremely sensitive” as it sought response from the Centre and States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi, where Dawoodi Bohra community predominantly reside.
The PIl argued by former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Rakesh K Khanna sought a complete ban on this practice commonly known as ‘khatna’ or “female genital mutilation” (FGM). Such act ought to be classified as a cognisable, non-bailable offence, for which it sought directions.
The petition referred to international conventions of the United Nations, to which India is a signatory under which such practices violate the right of women and children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The practice is inhuman and violates gender equality and rights of a woman over her own body as the mutilation causes “permanent disfiguration to the body of a girl child.”
The petition further pointed out that 27 countries have passed a law banning such custom including the countries in Africa from where it originated. Sadly, India has remained an exception, it stated.