This archive report was first published on 13 November 2019.
On November 8, 2019, police in Thika, Kenya, arrested three women for forcing their four daughters to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
The girls, aged between nine and 12 years, were taken from their locked-up home in Majengo estate to the Thika Level Five Hospital for treatment.
Thika West Sub County Police Commander Beatrice Kiraguri said the cut was carried out on Friday night by an elderly woman from the town's Kiandutu slums, who remains at large.
According to Kiraguri, the police received information from the public that some girls had been detained in a house at the estate, prompting swift action.
"We found the girls locked in the house and their mothers guarding outside," Kiraguri told the press. "After interrogating them, they informed that they were forced by their parents to undergo the cut."
The women have been detained at the Thika police station, awaiting charges.
Kiraguri vowed that the practice of FGM would not be tolerated in the town, and that anyone found guilty would face the full force of the law.
Local residents praised the police for their swift action, with some noting that the incident was the first reported in the estate.
Just days prior, President Uhuru Kenyatta had warned those who practice FGM that they would be dealt with firmly, calling the practice an archaic cultural practice that should be eradicated completely.
