Young Girl In Mutilation Case Allowed Back With Parents

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala (Photo: Henry Ford Health System)

MINNEAPOLIS (WWJ/AP) — A Minnesota girl who prosecutors say was taken to Michigan for a genital mutilation procedure has been allowed to return to her parents.

The girl is one of two Minnesota 7-year-olds who told authorities their mothers brought them to a Michigan clinic to see Dr. Jumana Nagarwala for the procedure. Nagarwala faces federal charges.

Court documents show one girl was removed from her suburban Minneapolis home but allowed to return last week with conditions. Among them, the parents must get her medical and psychiatric care and must submit to home visits by a social worker.

Nagarwala, a Henry Ford Hospital doctor, is charged with performing FGM on minor girls out of a medical office in Livonia. According to a criminal complaint, some of the minor victims traveled from other states to have Nagarwala perform the procedure — which typically involves the surgical removal of a female's clitoris or labia, sometimes for religious or cultural reasons.

[View a copy of the complaint. Note: Contains graphic language/details]

This is believed to be the first case brought under 18 U.S.C. 116, which criminalizes FGM. Nagarwala is also charged with transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and making a false statement to a federal officer.

Attorney Shannon Smith says Nagarwala removed mucous from two Minnesota girls in February and then handed the gauze to the family for burial.

Smith says Nagarwala is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a Muslim sect concentrated mostly in India.

The Associated Press isn't naming the parents to avoid identifying the girl. Their attorney didn't return messages Wednesday.

The case for the second girl is sealed in another county.