HYDERABAD: At a time when both the Centre and the Supreme Court have sought a ban on female genital mutilation, a city-based BJP leader has told Express that it’s a matter of ‘personal choice’! Speaking to Express, city general secretary of BJP Minority Morcha Zahabiya Kanchawala said: “I am for it, but it has to be done more professionally and hygienically.
It’s a matter of personal choice.” However, there is nothing consensual in the notorious practice that is widely prevalent among the Dawoodi Bohra community in India. According to reports, girls as young as six and seven are pinned down to the ground by older women and their clitoral hood is cut using a heated knife by untrained midwives.
On Monday, the Apex Court observed that the bodily integrity of a woman cannot be infringed upon without her consent and the Centre called for a ban of the practice. The Dawoodi Bohra community’s practice, called khatna or khafz, is defined by the United Nations as Type-I female genital cutting. Zahabiya also belongs to the same community.
City’s Dawoodi Bohra community members seems divided on the matter. For Secunderabad resident Rashida Habib, the whole thing is “a total misconception”. They (the litigants) are drawing parallels of female genital mutilation from Africa, which we Dawoodi Bohras don’t follow. What we have is a minor ritual and we are also against FMG, she said.
“We lead a very happy life. We have a good life with children and grand children. If it was a bad practice, we wouldn’t have led a normal life. We would have been clinically depressed,” Habid added. However, not everyone thought the same.
“Just because they didn’t get affected, they think its not a harmful practice,” said Saleha Paatwala, member of WeSpeakOut, the organisation which is an intervenor in the PIL seeking a ban on FGM. “We are extremely happy about what the bench has to say. It’s a very positive step towards banning it,” she added.