A woman infected with leprosy at young age was socially ostracized and forced to live by a riverbank for the past 40 years in fear that she may transmit the disease to others.

Tulasi KC, 60, of Banphikot in Rukum has been living by the bank of the local Dharne river. After getting infected by leprosy at young age, KC's relatives and villagers built a small thatched hut for her by the river where she has been living since.

Tulasi said that she was infected by leprosy when she was just 13 years of age. She said that although her disease has been cured, the villagers' perspective towards her has not changed.

"Whenever I visit the village, people flee by shouting that a 'leprosy-infected person' has arrived," KC shared her ordeal. "That is why I have been living in this thatched hut," she added.

She is now handicapped without hands and legs and with warts all over her body. She has been begging in the village to make a living. The unfortunate woman is bracing the chill weather without warm clothes and on empty stomach.

"I light up a bonfire throughout the night during the cold time, I cannot sleep due to excessive cold, if there is anyone wanting to help me, they can give me warm clothes and repair this hut," Tulasi said.

She said that she became handicapped due to shamans as she could not find a place for proper medical treatment and medicines after getting infected by leprosy. She routinely heads into the village with help of a walking stick.

No one allows her inside their residences, and she begs for food by keeping a considerable distance between the house and herself. RSS