Michigan Mother’s Ankle Monitor Woes Get Little Sympathy After She’s Charged In Genital Mutilation Of Daughter

A Michigan mother who allegedly forced her young daughter to undergo genital mutilation has complained to the court that the ankle monitor she is wearing after being charged with this act is “irritating her skin.” People have jumped all over this story with online comments and sympathy for this woman’s “skin irritation” appears hard to come by. Many comments online are pointing out that the mother complaining she is “uncomfortable” in her ankle monitor is nothing in comparison to the level of pain her daughter would have endured with an alleged genital mutilation procedure.

The woman has been identified as Fatema Dahodwala, 31, of West Bloomfield, according to Click On Detroit. She is wearing an ankle bracelet that monitors her whereabouts, which was assigned to her by a court of law. The mother, who is charged with forcing her young daughter to undergo genital mutilation, was reportedly following a religious practice within her Indian Muslim sect – the Dawoodi Bohra.

This mother is one of the several people facing charges in a case that stems from an investigation that discovered as many as 100 girls that have undergone this procedure at a Michigan clinic. The average age for the genital mutilation procedure for these girls was only seven years old. Several other people were also charged including two doctors, a doctor’s wife, and four other mothers.

This case is the first of its kind in the U.S. and according to the Daily Mail, “Authorities and prosecutors believe that an estimated 100 girls had been subjected to the shocking procedure at a Livonia clinic over the last 12 years.”

Genital mutilation is against the law in the U.S. and it has been condemned worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, genital mutilation, which is referred to as “female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

Mom charged in female genital mutilation case wants tether removed, says monitoring device is uncomfortable. https://t.co/8zLvhUtX8N pic.twitter.com/W57chpXd2q

— The Detroit News (@detroitnews) October 25, 2017

There are four different types of genital mutilation, which is classified into four major categories by the WHO. The category depends on what area of the female genitalia is involved in this mutilation procedure.

The investigation into the genital mutilation started last April and this mother, who was charged with forcing her daughter to undergo the procedure, was allowed to stay at home wearing an ankle monitor in lieu of jail. Her lawyer has presented a request to the court that this ankle monitor is removed from this woman.

The argument presented to have the monitor removed is that it serves no purpose for this woman to wear it for the next eight months, as the trial is set to start in June. Dahodwala complained how this ankle bracelet is getting in the way of her showering, and it is uncomfortable to sleep in.

The woman also states that this monitor “is ‘physically uncomfortable and causes irritation to the skin and that it is ‘unnecessarily intrusive.” It didn’t take long for folks to comment on the articles and hop on the social sites to come up with some advice of their own for this woman.

Female Genital Mutilation is not a ‘nick’ – Don’t let spin hide brutal reality as Michigan trial starts https://t.co/YjVygAdhET

— Fox News Opinion (@FoxNewsOpinion) October 25, 2017

Most folks hearing about Dahodwala’s woes about being uncomfortable while wearing her ankle monitor failed to offer any sympathy for the woman who allegedly subjected her daughter to genital mutilation. People seemed to find it rather ironic that she is now finding life “uncomfortable” in an ankle monitor. Below are a few comments that the Daily Mail readers offered up.

• “Oh, it irritates your skin. Poor diddums. Meanwhile, what do you think your daughter felt? A tickle?!”
• “Too bad. How sad. Get used to it. Can you imagine how your child felt? And will never feel? Sick situation. Don’t feel sorry for her in any way.”
• “So, take off the ankle monitor and put her in a jail cell instead.”
• “She files a legal complaint about chafed skin? How even she could miss the irony of this after butchering little girls is beyond understanding. I say tighten the ankle bracelet a bit more.”

[Featured Image by XiXinXing/Shutterstock]