Two Detroit doctors and one of their wives have been charged with subjecting two seven-year-old girls to genital cutting.

The defendants are part of a religious and cultural community called Dawoodi Bohra, an Islamic sect based in India, which is accused of practicing FGM.

It is the first federal case of its kind in the US, where FGM was banned in 1996.

Dr Jumana Nargarwala, 44, is alleged to have carried out the practice on young children for 12 years.

Dr Fakhruddin Attar, 53, is accused of letting Nargarwala use his clinic to carry out the procedure, while his wife Farida Attar, 50, is accused of holding the hands of at least two victims during the cutting procedures to comfort them.

They were charged with conspiracy, female genital mutilation and aiding and abetting.

A chart showing where FGM is banned in the world (Statista)

Their defence lawyers plan to put forward a religious freedom argument.

They maintain the doctors did not actually cut the girls, just scraped their genitalia, and argue the defendants are being persecuted by practicing their religion.

If the defence can show the procedure was just a nick and caused no harm, the defendants could be acquitted on religious grounds, legal experts told the Detriot Free Press.

According to court documents, the girls said they were told they were going to Michigan, for “a special girls' trip”. One of the girls said that after the procedure “she could barely walk, and that she felt pain all the way down to her ankle”.

The girls said their parents told them not to talk about what happened and one couple described it as a "cleansing" of extra skin.

The documents said the girls had scarring and abnormalities on their clitorises and labia minora.

FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Show all 12 1 /12 FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot girl cries after being circumcised REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM The traditional practice of circumcision within the Pokot tribe is a rite of passage that marks the transition to womanhood and is a requirement for all girls before they marry Reuters FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM Pokot girls are encouraged to leave their hut and make their way to a place where they will take off their clothes and wash during their circumcision ceremony REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot girl, covered in animal skins, walks to a place where she will rest after being circumcised in a tribal ritual in a village about 80 kilometres from the town of Marigat in Baringo County REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM Pokot girls, draped in animal skins, sit on rocks during their circumcision ceremony REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot woman performs a circumcision on a girl REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot woman holds a razor blade after performing a circumcision on four girls REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot girl bleeds onto a rock after being circumcised REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot girl is smeared with a white paint after being circumcised REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM More than a quarter of girls and women in Kenya have undergone genital cutting, according to United Nations data REUTERS FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM A Pokot girl, covered in animal skins, walks to a place where she will rest after being circumcised Reuters FGM tribal circumcision ceremony in Baringo County Kenya FGM Pokot girls covered with animal skins squat on rocks after being stripped naked and washed during their circumcision rite in a village about 80 kilometres from the town of Marigat in Baringo County REUTERS

Consensus among the medical community is that the practice of removing or injuring female genital organs has no known health benefits.

However, it has been performed on more than 200 million women and girls in 30 countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children," according to the WHO.