Federal prosecutors appear ready to appeal the dismissal of charges against Detroit-area doctors accused of practicing religious-based genital mutilation on young girls, Robert Snell at The Detroit News reports.
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled last month that the Congress had no right to pass a law banning the practice, arguing that it should be left to the states, and female genital mutilation, or FGM, had no basis in interstate commerce, and thus was not covered by the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, a Northville physician and member of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect based in India, had been charged along with three others in the mutilation of nine girls. The Dawoodi Bohra practice a form of FGM that they defend as strictly ceremonial and harmless, but prosecutors claim was prohibited by a 22-year-old federal statute, Snell reports:
The judge's opinion last month drew complaints worldwide that girls were left unprotected against a controversial procedure practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a small Muslim sect from India that has a considerable community in Metro Detroit.
Contrary to some belief, FGM is not called for in Islamic religious texts, but is a cultural practice among some groups, like the Dawoodi Bohra.
