Sad! 15 Year Old Dies Due to Barbaric Tradition that Ostracizes Menstruating Girls

A 15- year old girl has reportedly died from inhaling smoke in a hut where she lit a fire to keep herself warm, after she was banished for menstruating.

CNN reports that the girl, from Gajra village in western Nepal’s Achham district, was taking part in chhaupadi ( this is an old tradditon, where women and girls are isolated in tiny “menstruation huts” — small, ramshackle buildings with small doors and often no windows and poor sanitation and ventilation, they are forbidden to touch other people, cattle, green vegetables and plants, and fruits), a common practice in the far west of the country in which women, considered unclean during menstruation, are banished for the extent of their periods.

Inspector Badri Prasad Dhakal, who is the Achham district police, added that her death was not the first, as 10 other girls had died for the same reason in other neighboring districts.

The village in question was declared a “chhaupadi-free zone” in 2015, but Achham women’s development officer Bhagwati Aryal, divulged to newsmen that more than 70% of the women in the district still perform the practice.

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“Our law has banned this practice, but there is no provision in the law which states punishment for those involved. Until and unless we have a stricter law with punishment for the culprits, changes will come very slow” She said.

The gender discrimination practice is still very active, as some local herdsmen, blame any bad luck that befalls the village on the young girls or families who do not insist on their daughters or wives performing this tradition, thereby forcing parents and husbands to banish their wives when they start their menstruation every month.