Peer-reviewed article
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN INDIA: DIGGING RELIGIOUS ORIGINS OF THE PRACTICE
Bhavana Dhoundiyal ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This research paper examines female genital mutilation (FGM) in India, describing it as gender-based violence inflicted on young girls. The paper notes that while practiced by a minority community in India, FGM gained public attention in 2017 following a legal petition. The authors argue that FGM is a human rights violation regardless of claims about religious or cultural justification.
Key points
- FGM is practiced in concentrated parts of India, primarily within a minority community
- A legal petition filed in 2017 brought the issue to public attention in India
- The practice is characterized as discriminatory gender-based violence against women and young girls
- FGM has no identified religious or scriptural sources to justify its continuation
- The paper frames FGM as a human rights violation and crime
Limitations
This is a doctrinal study without empirical data, prevalence figures, or detailed analysis of affected communities. It cannot tell us how many children are affected, the severity of harms, the effectiveness of legal interventions, or the specific cultural contexts in which the practice occurs in India.
Abstract
This research paper is based on doctrinal study of the issue of female genital mutilation which is a discriminatory and form of gender-based violence inflicted on women and young girls at a very early age. It is practiced in many countries specially in African continent and India is a fresh talk of the town since 2017 after a write petition was filed by Advocate Sunita Tiwari criticising the prevalence of this practice in some concentrated part of India and its states. Although a minority community, but mutilating the body of a female is no less than crime for rituals, traditions or customs which has no identified sources of relevance in the world. Key words: Female Genital Mutilation, Human Rights, Women, Child, Law