A woman has been added to the list of those who died while sitting in a shelter while menstruating. 32-year-old Kamala Auji Damai of Krishnapur Municipality-1 Nigali, Kanchanpur, died on Saturday evening after being bitten by a snake in Chowgoth on Friday night.

Incidents of this nature are not new. Since 2063, 14 women and girls have died in Achham, 2 in Doti, 3 in Bajura and recently 1 in Kanchanpur. Especially in Karnali and Far West, the Chhaupadi system is pushing girls and women towards death, violence and insecurity. But the initiatives taken to eradicate this practice have not been meaningful. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt more concrete, practical and long-term policies.

Women in many places in Karnali and Far West go to stay in their own or relatives/neighbors' quarters when they are menstruating. There is a widespread superstition that especially during menstruation, deities become angry if they do not sit in the camp. Some people's physical problems are also understood in connection with the ritual. As a result, girls and women are forced to spend the night away from home in unorganized and cramped quarters feeling unsafe. 

While living in the neighborhood, they are attacked by wild animals, bitten by snakes, landslides, unable to bear the cold, and die of suffocation due to smoke. They are also raped. The death of Kamala Auji Damai after being bitten by a snake in Chowgoth is only the latest reference. Four years ago, 20-year-old Parvati Budha Rawat of Sanfebagar Municipality-3 Siddheshwar of Achham died of suffocation in the neighborhood. On 2 June 2081, a 15-year-old girl was gang-raped in Panchdeval Vinayak Municipality-2 of Achham. On the night of January 13, 2081, 40-year-old Saraswati Vick of Mohanyal Rural Municipality-7, Kailali, was attacked and injured by a leopard while she was sleeping in her bed.

In many villages, a house, a hut, is built for the hut. As it is not in daily use, it does not have regular maintenance. There is also no assessment of the arrival of snakes or other venomous creatures. No other security measures have been adopted. Therefore, girls and women who go to live there are at risk. But making the neighborhood safe or doing regular maintenance will not solve the problem. Because, as long as there is a consciousness of understanding menstruation as a sin or an unnatural condition, not as a natural physical cycle of a woman's body, and as long as there is a consciousness that forces her to reach the threshold, women will not have to reach the threshold to suffer death or violence, it will happen everywhere. Even if the incident happened in the neighborhood, it is a product of superstitious mentality. Therefore, maintenance is necessary at the very beginning of the consciousness of reaching or reaching the intersection.

Two types of efforts are needed to end the Chhaupadi practice. First, binding. A campaign to demolish slums can be carried out at the initiative of local administration, municipalities and wards, local organizations. Legal action can be taken against those who live or force people to live in slums. In Section 168 (3) of the Civil Code, 2074, it is said that a woman should not be kept in confinement or subjected to any other kind of discrimination, touching or inhumane treatment during menstruation or childbirth. In sub-section (4), the person who commits such an offense shall be punished with imprisonment up to three months or fine up to three thousand rupees or both. Available legal grounds for action may be used. Those forced to live in close quarters are usually: family members, relatives or neighbors, so there are few girls or women who complain or seek legal action. Therefore, the police should investigate and prosecute the incident by themselves or by taking information from alternative means.