Before adolescents and women of Achham freed from the torturous Chhaugoths could take breath of a relief, it seems those are getting revived. Chhaugoths are small huts or sheds where girls and women during menstruation and after child birth are traditionally bound to stay for certain days.
But again, there are some adolescents and women in the Sudurpashim state who have no experiences of staying in Chhaugoth and this Hindu ancient practice is known as ‘Chhaupadi’.
Karishma Das of Mastamandu of Sanfebagar municipality-4 is among those ‘lucky’ women who was never banished from home during her monthly period. She is never told by her family to leave the home when she is menstruating. So never missed her school during her periods. A bachelor-level first-year student confidently said,” This has not displeased deities.” She was referring the ‘mis’ belief behind this deeply-entrenched tradition. It is ‘falsely’ believed the violation of this tradition would make the God angry which will end in bad luck in the family.
Similarly, it has been a year that Mamata BK of Sanfebagar is residing at home during her monthly cycle .” To date no bad things have happened to me for discarding the Chhaugoth life.”
Coincidence with attempts to do away with the tradition
Those people who want the locals to uphold the tradition make their best to persuade them to follow it so as to not to ‘make the God angry’. They misinterpret the Chhaugoth demolition campaign by connecting it to unpleasant incidences happened around the surroundings.
On the 9th February , four goats of Jogi Kuwar of Sanfebagar municipality-13 became sick with symptoms like seizures and the release of saliva from the mouth and they immediately died. The day before, Chhaugoths in the village were destroyed. The deaths of animals were described as consequences of the move to abolish the traditon. Rumours were spread that goats had died because the God got angry due to the violation of ‘his rule’.
Kuwar even reached the local government, seeking compensation for the loss. Later post-mortem examinations report came dismissing the claim showing that livestock had died because they consumed poisonous vegetation, said Livestock Service Section chief Padam Thapa. ”We can not do anything in this case because there was no insurance claims for the dead animals. But if the local government makes efforts for compensation, there still remains a chance for some relief. ”
In Ridikot of Sanfebagar municipality, Jitendra Nagarji’s four goats had died in the wake of the kicking off of the Chhaugoth demolition campaign. A he-goat kept for offering to the local Jimaradi deity went missing from home. But both incidences were linked with the move to destroy Chhaugoth. But the reality was something different. Animals had died as they happened to eat poisonous plants and the he goat had disappeared as it was not tied properly.
Local shaman and Ridikot ward chair Miththu Bhat said either it was the death of cattle or other unpleasant incidents took place here dubbed as the results of attempts to throw away the custom and our efforts continue to convince them to discard false beliefs surrounding the practice. There are some people who want to create unnecessary fears over this matter, according to him.
Chhaupadhi a harmful practice: a synonym of physical and mental violence
Chhaupadi practice prohibits menstruating woman from entering the kitchen, touching food and cattle requiring her isolate from the home for first five to seven days. Adolescents and women of rural areas in Accham, Bajura, Bajhang, Doti, Darchula, Doti, Baitadi and Dadeldhura in the Sudurpaschim state still observe Chhaupadi. During their periods they are bound to reside in a small and poorly ventilated hut with no sufficient lights built far away from home. The rituals are more rigors for those unmarried girls and women than married ones. Unmarried girls and women are recommended for spending their first seven days of the menstruation in a hut while the 5-day stay rule is imposed for married.
The National Human Rights Commission’s document entitled’ A study report on the impact of Chhaupadi tradition on women lives’ ( 2075 BS) points out that women and adolescents in Chhaugoth face several sorts of physical and mental violence and untimely deaths due to attacks from wild animals and are subjected to sexual harassment .
There is no official documentation suggesting the number women and girls who lost their lives so far in Chhaugoth in Achham where the Chhaupadi practice is widespread . It means the victims are missing in the official data. In the past one decade, over 14 women had lost their lives while sleeping in sheds alone in Achham. Parbati Budha Rawat of Sanfebagar, Parbati Budha and Gauri Budha of Tumarkhaad and Roshani Tiruwa are among those victims. Two had died from snakebites, two from suffocation caused by a fire they light to keep the hut warm and two were frozen to deaths while the cause of deaths of others still remains unknown.
It may be noted the Supreme Court on 22nd April, 2005 had issued a directive order in the name of the government to prepare a guideline within the next three months by announcing Chhaupadi a ‘bad custom’. The then government on 9th May, 2006 had declared Chhaupadi as the ‘bad custom’. Nearly a year after the announcement, the then Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare issued ‘ the Chhaupadi Practice Elimination Directives, 2064 BS’. The Criminal Code (Act) 2017 that has been in force 17th August 2018 clearly states that ” a women during her period or in post-natal state should not be kept in Chhaugoth or treated with any kind of similar discrimination or untouchable or inhumane behaviour” and the offense is punishable by a law with a three- month jail sentence or a 3000 rupee fine or the both. If the perpetrator is a government employee, the law requires additional three-month jail sentence.
Adolescents and women have now somehow could take a little breath of relief following the criminalization of Chhaupadi.
Sunita Kuwar of Sanfebagar said with the law coming into force, her family has stopped banishing her from home when she is menstruating. ”Now period is no more distressful for me as in the past,” she said.
For the first time since the enforcement of law, the brother-in-law of Parbati Budha Rawat who lost her life in Chhaugoth on 1st December 2019 was sentenced to 45 days’ imprisonment by the District Court Achham for sending the victim to Chhaugoth.
Attempt to withstand the campaign
Due to legal provisions and a growing pressure from several quarters, the demolition of Chhaugoth has been launched as a campaign.
The Office of Women and Children in 2073 BS had conducted a household survey to assess and analyse the state of Chhuapadi. During the survey, it was found that there were 32606 such huts in Achham.
According to the District Police Office, Accham, a total of 4,787 were destroyed over a period from 17th December 2019 to 19th February 2020 and security force, people’s representatives and locals who support the anti-Chhaupadi drive worked together towards that end.
The highest number 853 huts were destroyed in Chaurpati followed by 654 in Dhakari, 576 in Bannigadhi Jayagadha , 464 in Sanfebagar,449 in Turmakhad, 427 in Mellekh, 331 in Panchadewal Binayak and 220 in Kamal Bazaar.
Numerous efforts have been made for the enforcement of law, but the practice is yet to be eliminated. It seems the tradition is getting restored. Amidst the campaign, some people seemed seeking ways for giving protection to the tradition. Some confronted with the people reached the site to remove Chhaugoths. Anti-Chhaupadi activists had the bitter experience of even being cursed by villagers . An old woman swore Sanfebagar municipality mayor Kul Bahadur Kuwar reached Patalkot to destroy Chhaugoths. This was happened when the police force was there.
Sometimes people point weapons at anti-Chhaupadi campaigners and supporters threatening them to leave the site.
Supporters of Chhaugoth sometimes do not hesitate to be hostile to the activists. For an example a woman attacked police reached at Bannigadh Jayagadh rural municipality with a peg meant for tying a buffalo.
Snafebagar Municipality-5 ward chair Ujir Saud recalled the moment that when he was forced to flee from the site after some villagers/locals came to attack him with a sickle. ”Under this circumstance, we are worried about the safety of women residing home during their periods.”
Some demolished huts before the police and people’s representatives and rebuilt them with their departure. Some have built such structures within cowsheds and they can not be noticed easily. According to Sanfebagar Municipality-9 ward chair Nara Kuwar, they are very clever to use tricks in defence of this tradition. It is easy to demolish huts made separately from home, but it is challenging to remove those built attaching to the house, within cowsheds and in house ground floor as the demolition may cause the risk of house collapse.
A woman of Budhakot at Sanfebagar Municipality-9 does stay at her home during menstruation. Her spouse is in India in course of employment. Some times ago, he complained of a problem in his eye and did not hesitate to blame her for this. As he believed, that was the consequence of his wife’s decision to unlearn the practice. He scolded her. But she does not move out of home while she is menstruating. But she is still in dilemma: whether to go with the tradition to please her husband or abide by the law.
Sanfebagar Municipality health section’s senior ANM Janaki Shah said menstruation is completely a biological phenomenon and not a matter of shame. ”Menstruation hygiene, proper diets and a rest are required in this period,” she asserted, adding that reusable sanitary pads must be properly cleaned after the use and dried in sunlight to prevent the risk of infection on uterus. ”But contrary to this, we do not do this as menstruation is taken as a matter of shame because of the social stigma associated with this.” She advised some tips for maintaining menstrual hygiene: the use of safe sanitary pads, cleanliness of vaginal are with clean water up to five to six times a day and avoidance soap, gel or antiseptic and talcum powder as it may cause the bacterial infection and imbalance of the PH level leading to several health problems. As she warned the use of talcum power can cause a cancer of uterus. ”Sanitary napkins should be changed every three to six hours.”
More efforts are needed
Chhaupadi cannot be eliminated and adolescent girls and women continue to suffer until people put their extra efforts and there is a change in the mindsets of people and families. So a change in people’s mindset is a powerful weapon to end the evil tradition.
Ward chairs Mitthu Bhat and Ujir Singh Saud have emphasised awareness and counselling to end this ill tradition apart from dismantling Chhaugoath (menstruation huts). ”There is a need to abide by existing laws, acts, international treaties, conventions and provisions of protocols,” they said.
The preamble of the Constitution of Nepal (2072) has guaranteed the fundamental human rights of Nepali citizens. Each citizen has rights to freedom of expression and live with dignity, and none can be exploited based on religion, tradition, custom, culture and anything, according to the constitution. More, the Article 38 (3) of the constitution has ensured that ‘no woman shall be subjected to physical, mental, sexual, psychological or other form of violence or exploitation on grounds of religion, social, cultural tradition, practice or on any other grounds. Such act shall be punishable by law, and the victim shall have the right to obtain compensation in accordance with law.”
Similarly Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act is applicable to Chhaupadi tradition.
Likewise, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Conventions on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women are also applied to this practice harmful to women.
There is a need to review the role of local people in creating awareness against the ill practice and intensify their roles in this regard. Reconstruction of dismantled menstruation huts is efforts to revive this tradition and there lacks efforts to put the practice to an end.
On a positive note, teenage girls and women of Sanfebagar Municipality-12 went against the tradition by not staying in huts during their periods. There are no such huts in Khaptad. Women of rural Khaptad do not follow the tradition. No untoward incidents relating to this have taken place in her family, as said by local Chandra Devi Kadayat. Other places of the country should follow suit.
Laws are not enough in ending it. But, a change in the mindset of people is needed. The district- level decision to declare Achham district free from Chhaugoth by mid-March is yet to be implemented. So far, four municipalities and rural municipalities of the district have been declared menstruation hut- free area. The district has 10 local levels. The villages in the district declared free from Chhaugoth are Bannigadhi Jayagadh Rural Municipality, Turmakhad Rural Municipality, Kamalbazaar Municipality and Mangalsen Municipality.
