Held for GBH, doctor who ‘circumcised baby without mum’s consent’
A doctor has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after a baby was allegedly circumcised without his mother’s consent.
Dr Balvinder Mehat, 61, was held following an investigation into the procedure.
It is alleged the GP was asked by the father’s Pakistani family to carry out the procedure in accordance with their Islamic faith – but the boy’s mother, 28, who is separated from the father, was said to be horrified when she found out.
She complained to social services and the police about the clinician, who works at the Bakersfield Medical Centre in Nottingham, claiming her son was in obvious distress when he was handed back to her following the procedure in July 2013.
Nottinghamshire Police closed an initial investigation after deciding it was not a criminal matter, and referred it to the General Medical Council.
But the force reopened the inquiry after the mother sought advice from anti- circumcision group Men Do Complain and leading human rights lawyer Saimo Chahal QC, who said the law was misapplied and threatened the force with a judicial review.
Dr Mehat, pictured, was arrested on Wednesday along with a 44-year-old man and a woman, 47, believed to be the child’s paternal grandparents, who were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
All three have been released pending further investigation. It is understood to be the first time police have treated ‘nontherapeutic’ circumcision as GBH.
Richard Duncker, of anti-circumcision group Men Do Complain, said the arrests were ‘good news because it gets the issue of child genital surgery for non-therapeutic reasons into the public debate’.
‘It is important we take the protection of children seriously ... This is one of society’s blind spots.’
Tim Alford, also from the group, said the mother ‘feels vindicated’.
He added that it was an important legal milestone. ‘I have been campaigning for some time, and this is the first time I have seen the police refer to non-therapeutic circumcision as GBH.’
Speaking in 2015, the mother, from Nottingham, said: ‘I knew this was something my baby’s father wanted, but I didn’t agree with it at all.
‘I spoke to my health worker and GP about it, and they said that if it was only my name on the birth certificate there was no way it could happen.’
Nottinghamshire Police confirmed that enquiries were ongoing. The GMC declined to comment on the case but said it would ‘work closely’ with the authorities in investigations concerning doctors.