A 12-year-old Indian schoolgirl has taken her own life after allegedly being period-shamed by a teacher.
Officials say the girl took her life on Monday near her home in southern India’s Tamil Nadu,The Guardian reports. She left a suicide note claiming her teacher had “tortured” her.
According to the BBC, the girl’s note began: “Amma [mother], please forgive me.”
“I do not know why my teacher is making complaints against me. I still can’t understand why they are harassing and torturing me like this,” it read.
The girl’s mother told BBC Tamil that her daughter had been ordered to leave her class because of a stain on her clothes.
”My daughter got her periods while she was in school last Saturday,” she said. “When she informed the teacher, she was given a duster cloth to use as a pad.
“The teacher made my daughter stand outside the class. How can a 12-year-old withstand such humiliation?”
Girls and women who are menstruating are often considered as ‘unclean’ or ‘impure’ in parts of rural India, with menstruation considered a taboo topic.
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