BAJURA, July 9

She is already the mother of three babies, but Gita BK of Kanda-8, Bajura, does not know what it means to have nutritious food after delivery.

Though she needed more care and attendance during the prenatal phase, she never got any of that. Instead, she had to move to an isolated and relatively unsafe cowshed, subjecting herself to possible health hazards.

On top of that, she was also deprived of nutritious food because of the superstitious belief that just a touch from her would defile the food.

Gita is just a representative character of the women there who share her fate. Women of the district, who have to stay away from their house and family for five to seven days during menstruation, have to be away for about 20 days after bearing a child.

“As the belief that intake of meat and milk and other diary products makes such women ill is so entrenched here, I had to eat rice sprinkled with salt,” Gita said, adding that they are also not allowed to go to public places. “Let alone in our house, they treat us differently during menstruation and the prenatal phase if we are to take part in any training or meeting outside,” lamented activist Rukhmani Shah.