Infibulation is not a Crime, It is a Sin - Ayush Mogre & Pratishtha Vaidhya

Woman, a woman plays several roles in her life like mother, sister, daughter, sometimes a good caretaker and apart from all this, she is a spirit, so powerful that she bears every pain that come amid herself and her loved ones. But, that same spirit becomes the prey of many roaming out there, who enjoy her pain, who make her a victim of their Hippocratic manhood and conservative thinking. Girl, Lady, Woman and in India we also call her Devi means a pious creature, a goddess. But I was shattered when I heard about the practice called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on the same goddess. My body went numb when I just thought of the pain when she went through such process, My mind stopped working when I just read about the situation she went through during infibulation. The age of 5-15 when we hardly understand the things, when we play with our toys and stuff, the girl of some region goes through the painful process of FGM. They were lied by their beloved cum heartless relatives about the process, they were told stories by their parents like the child of the same age used to listen but the difference is; that stories were told to pull the curtains for hiding the pain she went through, for hiding their inhuman act, for giving fire to her blissful childhood.

FGM and suffering of Woman

Many of you reading this blog right now haven’t encountered it before. FGM is a practice carried out on young girls between infancy and 15 years of age to prevent them from having sex before marriage. Infibulation (one type of FGM) is the ruthless process of sewing, cutting or removing a part of female external genital organs for no medical reasons. This process is performed in secrecy and carried out by superstitious people in an extremely unhygienic conditions with unsafe instruments. This practice involves removing of healthy and normal female genital tissues which interrupts in the natural function of the body. After this process the woman are tied with the rope for about 30-40 days so that her stitches would not break. Not only this, but when the whole sole reason of such process which is refraining her from having sex has accomplished then after marriage that stitches were cut by her life partner just before having sex. Just think of the pain she went through due to this. FGM also causes many complications including severe pain, excessive bleeding, problem in urination, childbirth complications and in the adverse scenario it can cause death of the woman.

From where its root run

There's no specific origin of Infibulation but it was mainly started in 5th century BC in Egypt. The practice is mainly concentrated in the Western, Eastern, and North-Eastern regions of Africa, in some countries the Middle East and Asia, as well as among migrants from these areas. FGM is therefore a global concern. [1]This is 21st century and it is still being practice in Northeastern Africa and in some parts of India or I should say in some specific communities

More than 200 million girls and woman have been subjected to this process. [2] This process is mainly practice on the infants and young girls and occasionally on adult woman. About 3 million girls to be at risk for FGM every year.

FGM in India

In India FMG is still practiced in some specific part in a Muslim community. During my journey of learning more about FGM I have watched some interviews of women who have gathered courage to speak on a public platform about their experiences and excruciating pain they suffered due to some old tradition which makes no sense. In all the interviews, the common thing they said that all of them were dragged into this by their families including their mothers who have suffered from the same. What circumstances can force a mother to push her daughter into so much pain which may lead her in not only physical suffering but also mental suffering. Infibulation can also cause infection ultimately leading girl to death. Imagine the amount of pain it can cause both physically and mentally when your own family members are holding you back and sewing your two pieces of flesh into one for some superstition and when your husband cuts your skin into two using scissors for sake of temporary pleasure.

END of relationship and humanity

Infibulation or FGM is that orthodox beliefs that make a father helpless, that make a mother forget her own suffering through the same. Infibulation shall be a punishable offence, the people who force a girl to go through such process or the person who are the part of promoting this process by any means should be strictly punished by the law. This sin should get vanished from our society. How can a woman feel safe and live in the society, out-of-doors, when sadists are sitting back in her own house? Yes, these are sadist who are driving pleasure from the pain of their so-called loved ones. The sad truth to this painful process is a fact that it is a practice being done to woman by the other woman. Such practices broke the girl completely; they ruin not only her childhood but the entire life. The girl who was betrayed by her own family in a small age, made impossible for her to trust anyone else in this cruel world. she starts feeling like damaged, used, misused. She just lost faith in relationship and Humanity.

[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation [2] https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf