Chhau Goth still in practice in district headquarters

Dadeldhura, July 9  ,,  Chhau Goth – especially animal shed where the women are kept during menstruation has been found in existence in Amargadhi Bazaar, the headquarters of Dadeldhura district. The Chhaudpadi Goths (outdoor sheds) have been detected in dozens of houses in different villages of Amargadhi municipality-5 nearby accessible city area. There is a deep-rooted belief that god would go furious and something bad would happen at their homes if menstruating women are kept inside. The practice of secluding women during menstruation and keeping them in cowshed is the consequence of this belief. The people migrating to district headquarters from different rural areas are mostly found to perpetuate the practice. They are found to have constructed Chhaupadi Goth somewhere in the distant area from home to keep their daughters and daughter-in-laws during the period. The general practice is it that the menstruating girls and women are kept in outdoor sheds for 5-6 days. Women right activists have expressed their surprise after tracing the shed structures in the accessible area of the district headquarters. It has been a social taboo to perpetuate the inhuman practice of secluding women in the sensitive time. They voiced their complaint over the act of treating women like animals by keeping them in sheds during menstruation. Indira Tamrakar, women rights advocate, said the secluded sheds are still in practice at Bagbazaar, Tufandanda, Khalanga, Kirtipur and Pokhara Bazaar in Dadeldhura district headquarters.