Indian girl kills herself after alleged period shaming by teacher

Police in India are investigating allegations that a 12-year-old killed herself after a teacher humiliated her for a period stain on her uniform.

Officials said the girl took her own life near her home in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state on Monday, leaving a note saying her teacher had “tortured” her.

When other students told the girl she had blood on her clothes, she asked for help. But the female teacher made the girl show the stain in class, local media reported her mother as saying.

“The teacher did not even take into account that there were boys in the class,” the News Minute quoted her as saying.

“She asked my daughter to lift [the] top of her salwar [kameez] up and then gave her [a] duster cloth to use as a pad.”

Menstruation remains taboo in India. Women and girls are often considered unclean and impure and are subjected to discrimination during their periods when, for example, they may not be allowed to go to the temple, or prepare and touch certain food.

The parents heard about the incident from their daughter’s classmates and have demanded action against the teacher. Investigations into the allegations are under way and teachers and students are being questioned, police said.

In a suicide note to her parents, the girl said her teacher was picking on her but she did not mention the incident with her period, officials said.

Activists say the suicide highlights the need to make it easier for adolescent girls to attend school. Girls are often forced to stay at home during their periods due to stigma and practical issues such as a lack of toilets or pads.

“The school did not have sanitary pad-dispensing machines,” Dev Anand, the district child protection officer, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “They did not even give the girl a regular pad. These are questions that the management needs to answer.”

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.