DETROIT (AP) - A judge has dismissed another charge against a Detroit-area doctor accused of female genital mutilation, leaving federal prosecutors with just one charge remaining.
Jumana Nagarwala was charged with conspiring with out-of-state mothers to have them travel to Michigan to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
But U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said the charge must be dismissed because the mothers didn't travel with the aim of engaging in sexual conduct with another person. They brought their daughters to Nagarwala.
"As deplorable as this agreement may be, it is not an agreement to violate" federal law and "therefore it is not a conspiracy," Friedman said last Wednesday.
The government accused Nagarwala of performing genital mutilation on nine girls at a Livonia clinic. She denied any crime and said she performed a religious custom on girls from her Muslim sect, the Dawoodi Bohra.
In 2018, Friedman threw out genital mutilation charges, saying Congress had exceeded its authority in trying to ban the practice.
All that remains for Nagarwala is a charge of conspiracy to hinder the investigation.
Published: Mon, Mar 09, 2020
