Doctor denies FGM as judge keeps her locked up

DETROIT: A Detroit-area doctor charged with performing genital mutilation on two seven-year-old girls denied the allegations through her lawyer on Monday, insisting that she conducted a benign religious ritual for families of a Muslim sect.

Shannon Smith’s defence of Dr Jumana Nagarwala contradicted the government’s position that the Minnesota girls were forced to undergo a painful, bloody procedure at a Michigan clinic that left them with scars and lacerations on their genitals. It’s the first time someone has been charged with violating a US ban on genital mutilation.

Ms Smith’s explanation emerged during a hearing to determine whether Dr Nagarwala would stay locked up without bond following her arrest last week. After hearing arguments, a judge said she was a threat to the public and refused to release her.

“They were the last in a long line of children cut by the defendant,” Assistant US Attorney Sara Woodward said of the two girls who were accompanied to the Livonia clinic by their mothers.

Ms Smith said it is Dr Nagarwala’s “absolute position” that she didn’t mutilate genitals as alleged by the government or even cause bleeding. She said mucous was removed from the girls in February and the gauze was given to the family for burial.

Dr Nagarwala is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a Muslim sect concentrated mostly in India, Ms Smith said. Federal investigators have said the families of the Minnesota girls also belong to the sect. Within the sect, the practice of female circumcision remains a divisive issue, although supporters defend the ritual.

Ms Smith partly blamed the allegations against Dr Nagarwala on a “political divide” within the group’s mosque in Oakland County, Michigan. She didn’t elaborate.

US Magistrate Judge Mona Majzoub aggressively questioned the lawyer, sometimes with a sceptical tone. She asked why a so-called religious custom was being performed in a medical clinic after business hours and wondered why Dr Nagarwala appeared to be the “go-to person”.

Ms Woodward said investigators believe she has performed genital mutilation in Michigan as far back as 2005, although an exact number was not known.