A federal judge in Chicago has ruled that the US law against female genital mutilation is unconstitutional, dismissing charges against eight people, including two doctors.

District Judge Bernard Friedman said “Congress overstepped its bounds” by outlawing the practice known as female circumcision, or cutting.

Friedman said it was up to states rather than Congress to regulate the practice.

The ruling dismissed mutilation and conspiracy charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who performed the surgery, and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar.

The doctors were charged in the genital mutilation of nine girls at a suburban Detroit clinic.

In addition, the same charges were dismissed against Attar’s wife, Farida, and Tahera Shafiq, who assisted in the procedure, as well as four women who took their daughters to the clinic.

Michigan was the 26th state to officially ban the practice.

The state law was passed a few months after Nagarwala’s April 2017 arrest.

Female genital mutilation has been condemned by the United Nations, but is common for girls in some parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

With Post wires