A Detroit doctor will become the first person charged under a federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation.
According to the Justice Department, Jumana Nagarwala of Northville, Mich., has been arrested and charged with performing the procedure on girls aged 6 to 8 out of her office in Livonia, Mich.
A federal law criminalizes female genital mutilation as a federal felony, and the Justice Department says this is the first case brought under the statute.
The federal complaint against Nagarwala reveals some of the victims allegedly traveled out of their way to have the procedure done by her.
“[D]espite 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. “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.”
The procedure, known as “FGM,” involves the partial or total removal of a girl or woman’s external genitalia, most commonly performed in the Middle East and Africa as a cultural custom. However, female genital mutilation offers no medical or health benefit.
Congress made FGM illegal in 1996. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that as of 2012, more than 510,000 women and girls in the country were at risk of undergoing FGM.
The United Nations has caused the procedure “an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls.”
