Kerala government orders female genital mutilation probe

KOZHIKODE: The state government has directed Kozhikode district medical officer (DMO) to investigate into the allegation of female genital mutilation being practiced in a clinic in Kozhikode. Sahiyo, an NGO working on women's issues, had first reported the incident after talking to the doctors who said to have performed the female genital mutilation (FGM). The government move, however, comes after media reports confirming it and the workers of Muslim Youth League locking up the clinic on Sunday. Health minister K.K. Shylaja alerted the directorate of health services, which in turn directed DMO to probe into the reports.

"The DMO is yet to commence the probe," said a source in the health department. According to Sahiyo, FGM is widely believed to be existent in the Dawoodi Bohra community and other smaller Bohra sub-sects among Indian Muslims. Two doctors at the clinic had admitted that they perform the procedure on both boys and girls. They claimed that women from several local Muslim sects are increasingly coming to their clinic to have performed it for themselves, their daughters and even their daughters-in-law.

The doctors said that they cut the prepuce of the clitoris, also known as the clitoral hood, because it is allegedly "good for married life". They also mentioned that "some husbands insist on it". Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has raised concerns over some corners trying to target the Muslim community over the allegations of FGM. State president Abdul Majeed Faizy told Deccan Chronicle that such fake clinics had the business motives in connecting such a barbaric act with that of Islam. "It is up to the religious heads to comment whether the act is Islamic or not and they have done it," he said. "But as a political party, we suspect there are attempts to tarnish the name of the religion by linking it with the circumcision among the males. The business motives behind the clinics should be probed, instead of linking it with the community."