Girl dies after being banished for menstruating

15-year-old girl has died in Nepal after she was banished to a shed because she was menstruating, under an ancient Hindu practice that has been banned for over a decade, police said Monday.

Some Hindus view menstruating women as impure and in parts of Nepal they are forced to remain in a hut or cowshed for days, a practice known as chhaupadi.

Under the practice, women are banned from taking part in normal family activities during menstruation and after childbirth, and can have no contact with men of the household.

The government outlawed chhaupadi in 2005, but Mohna Ansari of Nepal's National Human Rights Commission said local leaders must do more to enforce the ban.