NEW DELHI: The government does not have any plans to draft a new law to address the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) in India. To curb the practice, the government feels necessary safeguards are available in the existing laws.

This was disclosed in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 20 by minister of state women and child development Virendra Kumar. He went on to cite existing laws that can be invoked for prosecution of people indulging in FGM.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sought to know through a question whether the government has written to heads of religious sects within India to discourage the practice of female genital mutilation. To this the MoS WCD on July 20 responded with a “no”. To Tharoor’s query if a proposal was under consideration to draft a legislation to address FGM, Virendra Kumar said, “there is no such proposal.”

On the measures taken by the government to curb the practice, Kumar said, “necessary safeguards are already available under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code.”

Meanwhile, on a day Supreme Court made strong observations in the ongoing case on FGM to settle and Masooma Ranalvi from ‘WeSpeak Out’- network of survivors, urged the government to prepare a policy with detailed guidelines to prevent FGM/Khafz”. WeSpeakOut is an intervenor in the PIL in the Supreme Court seeking a ban on FGM. “We firmly believe that if India is to eliminate, eradicate and root out the outdated practice of FGM/Khafz from the country, it has to be done in a systematic multi-pronged manner with the complete coordination and cooperation of the government agencies and the community, the police and health professionals,” Ranalvi said.

In February, this network released a study titled “The Clitoral Hood A Contested Site” and found that 75% of all daughters of the study sample were subjected to FGM/C, which means it continues to be practiced on little girls. It was pointed in the study that 97% of women who remembered their FGM/C experience from childhood recalled it as painful. Despite sex being a taboo topic, approximately 33% of women subjected to FGM/C in the study believe it has negatively impacted their sexual life.

Samina Kanchwala, secretary of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Women's Association for Religious Freedom spoke to TOI earlier this month. “Firstly what we practice should not be misrepresented as female genital mutilation. It is a harmless practice executed in keeping with religious beliefs and and is unlike male circumcision. The latter is very invasive. Therefore we seek our right to follow religious practice and nobody should deny us the freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of India under Article 25,” she said. Kanchwala further stated that no one can force anyone to undergo circumcision but at the same time by imposing a ban on those who want to follow the age old practice cannot be denied their right.

