In Rural Nepal, Menstruation Taboo Claims Another Victim
Her husband, a police officer in Kathmandu, said he had never forced his wife to follow the chhaupadi tradition, but
that she insisted because women in her part of Nepal had done so for as long as anyone could remember.
According to the police, Ms. Bayak is the latest victim of a very old tradition in rural Nepal, in which religious Hindus believe
that menstruating women are unclean and should be banished from the family home.
Supported by By Bhadra Sharma and Jeffrey Gettleman KATHMANDU, Nepal — The last
time anyone saw Gauri Kumari Bayak alive, she was gathering grass and firewood.
In Nepal, one of Asia’s poorest countries, dozens of women
and girls have died in recent years from following this tradition, despite activists’ campaigns and government efforts to end the practice.
We don’t talk about dignity, we don’t talk about women’s rights." Bhadra Sharma reported from Kathmandu, and Jeffrey Gettleman from New Delhi.
