Another 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.
January 12th, 2018- Ms. Bayak was found dead on Monday, apparently having asphyxiated after building a small fire inside the hut to keep warm.
- 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.
- Menstruating women often trudge outside at night to bed down with cows or goats in tiny, rough, grass-roofed huts and sheds.
- Many have been raped by intruders or died from exposure to the elements.
- Last summer, the Nepalese government made it illegal for anyone to force a menstruating woman or girl to sequester herself, with violators subject to jail time or fines.
- The law came with a grace period to give people time to absorb the new rules
- No punishments are to be handed out until August.
NASA