Even as the hearing on the issue of triple talaq is on, in some more heartening news for women, Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi has offered her support to the cause of eliminating of female genital mutilation (FGM)
Even as the hearing on the issue of triple talaq is on, in some more heartening news for women, Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi has offered her support to the cause of eliminating of female genital mutilation (FGM). On Tuesday, lawyers and anti-FGM activists released a 57-page legal report highlighting the need for scrapping the practice.
The Centre's first warning to the Dawoodi Bohra community over the practice of khatna has been hailed as a "landmark breakthrough" in the fight against the 600-year-old custom. Anti-FGM activists are hoping that a law against the practice will serve as a deterrent, which has been openly cited as discriminatory to girls.
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With prominent lawyers and ministers stepping in, we see the fight against FGM finally heading in the correct direction. While social censure is necessary, what will truly help eliminate or, at least, reduce this menace in the society, is if a law against it is put in place.
Much to the dismay of the anti-FGM lobby, the head of the Bohra community, the Syedna, still refuses to speak out against it. The recent case in the US, in which three Bohri medical professionals were charged with performing FGM on multiple girls, has shaken up the community. Members of the community are now dissuading others from practising FGM in countries where it has been deemed illegal.
In a similar vein, if this practice was made illegal in our subcontinent, countless girls would come to benefit from it. Perhaps if it is deemed unlawful, the community leaders will issue orders to stamp it out.
It's time to seize the moment. Let us ride the triple talaq wave and try to make sure another unjustified practice meets its end.
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