Report: Michigan Doctor Accused of FGM May Have Mutilated Over 100 Girls

Brittany M. Hughes | June 8, 2017
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A Michigan doctor arrested last month for performing female genital mutilation procedures on more than half a dozen little girls may have abused as many as 100 victims, prosecutors said Wednesday.

According to the Detroit Free Press, a federal prosecutor told a judge in court Wednesday that the several victims who’ve already publicly identified as having been cut by Dr. Jumana Nagarwala may have just been the tip of a horrific iceberg.

A federal prosecutor dropped a bombshell in court Wednesday, telling a federal judge that the government estimates that as many as 100 girls may have had their genitals cut at the hands of a local doctor and her cohorts.

This case marks the first time that anyone has ever been charged under the federal law criminalizing female genital mutilation. Two other Livonia doctors charged in the case -- Fakhruddin Attar his wife, Farida -- were granted bond Wednesday. Attar is accused of letting Nagarwala use his clinic to perform the procedures, while prosecutors say his wife held the girls’ hands to calm them and keep them from moving around during the cutting.

Attar reportedly admitted he let Nagarwala use his clinic up to half a dozen times a year, a figure that lead the government to believe she may have mutilated at least 100 girls. Prosecutors say she may have been performing the barbaric operations for 12 years, but added the secrecy of the procedures make it hard to know for sure how many girls were brutalized.

Nagarwala herself remains in prison. The doctors’ trials are set for October 10. If she’s found guilty, she could end up spending life in prison.

Nagarwala and the Attars are all reportedly members of an Indian-Muslim community in Michigan. FGM is a sadly all-too-common practice in many cultures, including many Muslim sects. It's estimated that today, roughly 200 million girls are victims of FGM.

So far, no Women’s Marches, feminist protests or women’s rights demonstrations have been scheduled to protest female genital mutilation practices in the United States and across the world.

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