NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the right to menstrual hygiene is an integral part of the right to life and the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.The top court has issued a series of binding directions to states, Union Territories and schools to ensure dignity, health and equality for girls and women.The order was given by the bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan. Pronouncing its judgment on a plea seeking free sanitary pads and adequate sanitation facilities for schoolgirls, the apex court directed all states and Union Territories to provide biodegradable sanitary napkins free of cost to girl students in all schools.“Before parting with the issue, we want to say that this pronouncement is not just for stakeholders of the legal system. It is also meant for classrooms where girls hesitate to ask for help. It is for teachers who want to help but are not able to due to the lack of resources. Progress is measured by how we protect the vulnerable”, Justice Pardiwala observed before parting with the judgment. It also ordered authorities to ensure separate toilets for female and male students, along with disability-friendly toilets, in every school.The apex body made it clear that the compliance would be mandatory for both government and private institutions. It warned that private schools could face derecognition if they fail to provide separate toilets for girls and boys or do not ensure access to free sanitary pads for students.The bench said that access to menstrual hygiene is not a matter of charity or policy discretion, but a constitutional entitlement flowing from the right to live with dignity and bodily autonomy. The top court further directed that it will hold government accountable if they fail to provide toilets and free sanitary pads to girls. It observed that lack of basic facilities and stigma around menstruation directly affects girls’ health, education and privacy.The judgment follows proceedings initiated in November last year, when the court took cognisance of a disturbing incident at Maharshi Dayanand University in Haryana, where three women sanitation workers were allegedly forced to send photographs of their sanitary pads to prove they were menstruating. The incident had triggered nationwide outrage over “period-shaming”.At that stage, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan had expressed concern over such practices in educational institutions and workplaces, observing that they reflected a deeply troubling mindset. The court had issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), which highlighted multiple instances of women and girls being subjected to invasive and degrading checks.In its petition, the SCBA argued that such practices were “in gross violation of their right to life, dignity, privacy and bodily integrity under Article 21”.It also stressed that women workers, particularly in the unorganised sector, are entitled to decent working conditions that respect biological differences and protect them from humiliating treatment during menstruation.During the earlier hearing, the court had observed that if a woman was unable to perform heavy work due to menstruation-related pain, alternative arrangements should be made instead of subjecting her to degrading scrutiny. “If someone is saying that because of this reason heavy work could not be done, it could have been accepted and some other persons could have been deployed,” the bench had said, expressing hope that meaningful guidelines would emerge from the case.The Haryana government had informed the court that an inquiry had been initiated into the university incident and that action had been taken against two persons responsible.
