Campaigners welcome the introduction of jail sentences and fines for isolating women during menstruation but warn education is needed to end stigma. Nepal has passed a law criminalizing the practice of banishing women to huts during their periods.
The ancient Hindu tradition of Chhaupadi, whereby women are confined to animal sheds during menstruation to keep “impurity” out of the home, was banned by the supreme court in 2005. But the practice has remained prevalent in Nepal’s remote west and has led to the deaths of two teenage girls in the past year.
Last month, a 19-year-old girl in Dailekh district died from a snake bite after she was forced to sleep in a shed. In December, Roshani Tiruwa, 15, suffocated in a poorly ventilated mud-and-stone hut in Achham district after lighting a fire in an effort to stay warm.
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