New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor MP said that the custom of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) should be banned through legislation. The custom should be declared as a crime. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has to intervene in the issue efficiently, Tharoor said while speaking during the release of the report ‘The Clitoral Hood a Contested Site: Khafd or Female Genital Mutilation in India’ prepared by various organizations jointly.

"We cannot ignore the stance taken by UN against female circumcision. The medical community should ban doctors from performing the custom. Medical Council and IMA should take initiative in this regard,’ Tharoor said. The centre had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that there was no official data or study by the National Crime Records Bureau which supported the existence of Female Genital Mutilation in India. The founder of WeSpeakOut and a survivor of FGM, Masooma Ranalvi asked how this custom, which is not considered as a crime in India, could be listed in the documents of the National Crime Records Bureau.

The study was conducted in 13 regions of the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. 94 persons including 84 women were subjected to the study, of which 81 women were survivors of FGM. 43 percent of the persons opposed the custom whereas 37 percent supported it. Majority of the persons have made their daughters undergo FGM. The Indians residing in Canada, the USA and the UAE also were part of the study.

The custom of FGM is more prevalent among the Bohra community. The women who belong to other religions but marry men of Bohra community also are subjected to the practice. Most women in India are subjected to Type 1 FGM, which includes partial or total removal of the clitoral hood or clitoris. Type 4 FGM which includes pricking, piercing or cauterization also exists in some regions, the study stated.

In Kerala, children under the age of one year are subjected to FGM. Female circumcision is a custom in other states, whereas only a few families in Kerala practice the same. 97 percent of the survivors opined the process was extremely painful. Many of them were affected with urinary diseases, bleeding, and difficulties in sexual life after FGM. Some women also opined that they experienced mental trauma following the custom.

Many perform FGM as a religious custom or following the instruction of a priest. Some also perform the same in order to restrict the sexual life of women. The organizations which prepared the report intend to approach the Human Rights Commission against the custom.