FOR at least five days a month, women in Nepal are banished to a derelict hut where they have limited access to food and are not allowed to use water.

They are deemed to be “impure” and “contaminated” for menstruating and are forced to sleep on floors, forbidden from looking at the sun and are barred from touching, men, cattle and religious icons.

They are forced to eat only rice, salt and dry foods as it is believed women will destroy dairy, fruit and vegetable products while they are menstruating.

Women who violate this ritual are blamed for illnesses, crop failures, natural disasters and abrupt deaths of animals.

The ancient Hindu ritual, known as chhaupadi, sees women exiled from the community for the duration of their period and made to stay in “menstruation huts” alone and away from their families. The ritual has been illegal for a decade, but women are still thrown out of their homes once a month. It’s putting young women in danger, with the latest death as recent as last week.

Talasi Shahi was an 18-year-old girl banished to one of the huts as part of the ancient Hindu ritual and died after being bitten by a snake while she was forced to sleep on the floor of the shed. She was twice bitten by a venomous snake on her head and leg in the western Dailekh district of Nepal.

The girl’s family reportedly took her to the village shaman for treatment before deciding to take her to a local health centre, which did not have the required anti-venom and making the three-hour trip to the nearest hospital was no longer possible.

Despite being outlawed by Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2005, chhaupadi is still a common practice in some communities, particularly those in remote western districts of Nepal.

These communities see menstruating women and those who have just given birth as impure so are isolated in windowless huts.

A youth movement, Restless Development, is now fighting against the Hindu ritual to get it abolished. On its website it says: “This year, the project has reached to 3790 young people and sessions on Sexual Reproductive Health issues and menstruation has been delivered in 18 schools in Kailali, Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur districts.”

In May, WaterAid, an international charity that helps people access safe water, hygiene and sanitation, launched a project that allowed women to have a voice about being exiled.

They took photos of what life was like while in isolation.

WaterAid chief executive Barbara Frost told The Independent: “The silence and stigma that surrounds menstruation impinges on girls’ everyday lives. Furthermore, when there are no safe, private toilets in schools, girls often skip school during their period, or drop out of school altogether once they reach adolescence. With nowhere hygienic to clean sanitary pads or wash, women and girls also risk infection.

“Being able to deal with periods in a hygienic and dignified way is crucial to women’s wellbeing. It helps women feel that they are able to play a full role in society, no matter what time of the month.”

Rabina, 17, told WaterAid while on her period she was not allowed inside a kitchen and not allowed to cook.

A woman named Sabrita told Al Jazeera a neighbour had to bring her slices of bread and slide it to her from a safe distance while she was in the menstruation hut.

“I have to sleep in the hut even during winter and rainy season,” she said.

“It’s very cramped inside, I bang my head and I can’t stretch my legs. I face difficulties and often I hear snakes slithering around.”



Talasi, who died from a snake bite last week, is not the first to die in isolation.

Two women died at the end of last year in similar circumstances. One was a 15-year-old girl who lit a fire for warmth in the hut she was banished to and died as a result of smoke inhalation. The other woman’s death was unexplained.

There have been many other deaths linked to this ritual and rights activists say many more go

probably go unreported.

Legislation is currently pending in parliament that would criminalise this menstruation ritual, making it an offence worthy of imprisonment to force a woman to follow the practice.