A Detroit emergency room doctor is accused of performing genital mutilation on two 7-year-old Minneapolis-area girls.

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala is charged with performing the procedure out of a clinic in Livonia, Mich., in February, according to charges filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

It’s believed to be the first case to be brought under the federal law criminalizing female genital mutilation of girls. The investigation suggests there are “multiple” other child victims of Nagarwala.

“According to the complaint, despite her oath to care for her patients, Dr. Nagarwala is alleged to have performed horrifying acts of brutality on the most vulnerable victims,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Nagarwala heard the allegations during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court and was returned to jail to await another hearing Monday. Federal prosecutors want to keep her locked up without bond.

Nagarwala denied to the FBI ever having performed female genital mutilation. Defense attorney Shannon Smith declined to comment outside court.

The girls’ mothers were with them during the procedure, according to the FBI, which conducted the investigation.

Female genital mutilation is considered criminal sexual activity. It involves circumcising, excising or infibulating all or part of the labia majora, labia minora or clitoris. One purpose of the procedure, the complaint notes, is to curb girls’ or women’s sexuality by making sex painful.

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“The Department of Justice is committed to stopping female genital mutilation in this country, and will use the full power of the law to ensure that no girls suffer such physical and emotional abuse,” Blanco said.

According to the charging document:

The girls were told they were being brought to Detroit for a “special” girls’ trip, one of the alleged victims told an FBI child forensic interviewer. At a Detroit-area hotel, the girl was told she and the other girl were to see a doctor because “our tummies hurt.”

“While at the doctor’s office, a procedure to ‘get the germs out’ of her was performed,” the complaint said. The girl described what happened to her on the examination table.

The other child said that after the procedure she could “barely walk, and felt pain all the way down to her ankle.”

Both girls were told not to talk about the procedure.

When questioned, one of girl’s parents confirmed they had brought their daughter to the doctor for a “cleansing” of extra skin, the complaint said. Both girls identified Nagarwala as the doctor who performed the procedure.

Nagarwala, who has been placed on leave from her job at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, didn’t work at the Livonia clinic, and there was no record of her billing for the procedure there, the FBI said.

The criminal complaint states that Nagarwala is a member of a religious or cultural “community” known to practice female genital mutilation on young girls, though it did not identify the community.

The FBI pursued the case after the agency and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations received information that Nagarwala was performing female genital mutilation in the area. Agents got court permission to search Nagarwala’s phone records, which showed a series of calls between her and one of the Minnesota victims’ mothers, the complaint said.

Further checks showed the Minnesota family had a 7-year-old daughter and was a member of the same community known to practice female genital mutilation, the FBI said. Checking phone records, agents determined the phone had been taken to Michigan on Feb. 3 and returned to Minnesota the next day.

The complaint notes that people affected by female genital mutilation are beginning to speak out publicly worldwide against the practice. “Many describe pain during the procedure and a variety of effects on their physical and mental health later in life,” the complaint said.

The World Health Organization said the practice of removing or injuring female genital organs has no known health benefits. Yet it has been performed on more than 200 million women and girls in 30 countries, according to the group.

This report contains information from the Associated Press.