(The Supreme Court on 9 July questioned the practice of female genital mutilation of minor girls in the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, saying it violates the bodily “integrity” of a girl child. The following article on FGM is being republished from The Quint’s archives.)

“When I was around seven, my grandmother took me on an outing. We went to a dingy building. The women there told me to take my panties off. Then all the women, including my grandmother, pinned my arms and legs down. One of the women took a blade and began cutting me down there. I screamed in terror and pain.”

Those may be the words of only one woman, but they convey the anguish faced by many.