A federal judge today ordered a Detroit-area doctor to remain in jail while she's prosecuted for performing illegal surgeries on young girls.
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala is being charged with performing female genital mutilation procedures on two seven-year-old girls from Minnesota. Female genital mutilation on minors is illegal in the U.S. unless there is a medical reason.
Prosecutors say a medical examiner found that the labia minora – the small folds of skin on either side of the vaginal opening – were altered or removed on one girl, and there was a small tear on the second girl's.
Nagarwala's attorney says her client performed a religious ritual on the girls, and that neither girl was cut.
The 44-year-old Northville resident has no criminal record, according to her attorney, but the prosecution says she has been doing these surgeries on young girls for at least a decade.
Prosecutors also say this is the first criminal case of its kind in the U.S.
