The fight against female genital mutilation (FGM), or khatna (female circumcision), has for the first time since its initiation in India in 2015, gained support from official quarters.

Lalitha Kumaramangalam, chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), called it the manifestation of a patriarchal norm and stressed the need to advocate a law to end the practice prevalent among the Bohra community.

The announcement followed a petition presented by Masooma Ranalvi-led Speak Out on FGM to the NCW earlier this month on the United Nations’ International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM (February 6).

With the NCW championing their cause, the petitioners are one step closer to their goal of getting the practice outlawed in the country. Deemed a human rights and child rights violation by WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF, it is practised widely among the Bohra community, a sect of Shia Ismailis governed by the Fatimid School of Islam.

Khatna involves the removal of the clitoral hood (believed to be “haram ki boti” or immoral lump of flesh), prepuce and the partial or total removal of the clitoris itself when the girl enters her seventh year. The UN categorises this is as Type 1 FGC.

Until about two years ago, when Ranalvi’s Speak Out on FGM and five-member NGO Sahiyo began shedding light on the issue, FGM in India seemed to have been the Bohras’ best kept secret.

In 2015, a mother, a midwife and a priest, all belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra sect, were convicted in Australia’s first genital mutilation trial. “In a sense it gave fillip to the movement and our organisation exists because of that trial,” says Ranalvi.

Khatna involves the removal of the clitoral hood, prepuce and the partial or total removal of the clitoris itself when the girl enters her seventh year. (Photo: Reuters)

When the priest was sentenced to 15 months, it rattled the priesthood across the diaspora. A fatwa in the form of jamaat letters was sanctioned by the high priest of the Dawoodi Bohras Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, advising the community to uphold the law of the land and stop the practice of khatna in countries where FGM is outlawed.

Sahiyo’s blog has encouraged several women from within the community to open up about their experiences. The organisation has, over the past year, held a preliminary and exploratory survey. The first of its kind research study documented the opinions of 385 Dawoodi Bohra women and found that 81 per cent of respondents do not want the practice of khatna to continue.

Sahiyo, with the support of 32 other organisations, has now petitioned the UN to address the issue and eliminate FGM in India by 2030.

Although the practice has taken on a religious significance, FGM is a social norm perpetuated by fear of ostracism within the community. This can end only with a diktat from the clergy.

On February 4, Ranalvi sent letters to the high priests of the three Bohra communities - Dawoodi, Sulemani and Alvi. “We have all experienced various long-term effects - physical, sexual and psychological… Today some of us have taken the courage to address you and appeal to you to eliminate and eradicate this practice in our community. We request you to take cognisance of our voices and pay heed to traumatic experiences. We want you to specially consider the harmful effects it has on the girl child and the severe abuse of child rights which takes place because of this procedure being perpetrated on young innocent girls aged 6-7, ” the letter states.

Although Ranalvi is yet to receive a direct response, high priest Mufaddal Saifuddin has already made it clear that the practice must carry on. Ranalvi has good reason to believe that a government-issued ban could change the community’s stance. It has, after all, worked among the diaspora.

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