KATHMANDU: Nepal's parliament Wednesday criminalised an ancient Hindu practice that banishes women from the home during menstruation.Many communities in Nepal view menstruating women as impure and in some remote areas they are forced to sleep in a hut away from home during their periods, a custom known as chhaupadi The new law stipulates a three-month jail sentence or a 3,000 rupee fine ($30), or both, for anyone forcing a woman to follow the custom. "Chhaupadi didn't end, because there was no law to punish people even after the Supreme Court outlawed the practice," Pokhrel said.Women's rights activist Pema Lhaki described the law as unenforceable because it is related to a deeply entrenched belief system that is harder to change. "It's a fallacy that it's men who make the woman do this. Yes, Nepal's patriarchal society plays a part but it's the women who make themselves follow chhaupadi," she told AFP. "They need to understand the root cause, have strategic interventions and then wait a generation," she added.

Source: Times of India August 09, 2017 22:22 UTC