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30 female genital mutilation survivors push to end barbaric practice

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 14 February 2017, 5:35 IST

A group of 30 survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM) - from the Dawoodi Bohra community - have started an online campaign against the practice. The women have put up a petition on Change.org to pressure the Indian government to bring about a law to ban the barbaric practice.

The survivors have alleged that girls from the Bohra community are subjected to genital mutilation at the age of five. The practise has been reportedly put in place by the clergy of the community.

The women have addressed the petition to Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi - urging her to act against Female Genital Mutilation.

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The Change.org petition starts with a chilling personal account.

"At the age of seven, I was subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Mumbai, in a most unhygienic and clandestine manner. The shock and trauma of that day are still with me."

"Like me, there are thousands of my Dawoodi Bohra sisters who have been subjected to genital cutting as children".

The survivors came together under a forum, Speak out on FGM, in a bid to spark a "conversation on this ritual which has caused physical and psychological damage to each of us in some way or the other".

The petition further reads:

"The Dawoodi Bohras are among the most educated in India, yet we are also the only Muslim community in India to practice FGM. The practice has nothing to do with religion and is more of a cultural practice".

"Most of us are too scared to speak out publicly. We fear ostracisation, social boycott and exclusion of our families from the rest of the community by our religious clergy if we object to the continuation of this practice."

"It often leads to pain, shock, tetanus, genital sores, excessive bleeding, etc. It also has long-lasting psychological impact on the victims, ranging from sexual disorders, fear of sexual intimacy, nightmares and post traumatic stress disorder."

You can sign the petition here.

First published: 5 February 2016, 12:48 IST