The Supreme Court today referred the plea challenging the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) of minor girls, among Dawoodi Bohra Muslims to afive-judge constitution bench.
Abench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D YChandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by a Delhi-based lawyer challenging thepractice.
Theplea stated that female genital mutilation is performed illegally upon minorgirls, and is against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, andthe Universal Declaration of HumanRights, of which is India is a signatory. It added that the practice alsocaused permanent disfiguration to the child’s body.
Agroup of Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community members had earlier told the apex courtthat female circumcision is practised by a few sects of Islam, including theDawoodi Bohra community, and that the validity of this be examined, if at all,by a larger constitution bench.
