New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the intervention of the top court to have menstrual pain leaves for female students and working women throughout the country.
The plea filed by Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi contends that the menstrual cycle has always been ignored by society, legislature, and other stakeholders, and denial of period leave to women is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The petitioner pointed out that some Indian companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Byju, Mathrabhumi, Magzter, ARC, Ivipanan, FlyMyBiz, and Gozoop do provide period leaves but still the majority don't. In states, only Bihar provides for special menstrual pain leave as a part of its 1992 policy, the petitioner said.
He highlighted that two private member bills had been introduced in the Lok Sabha but they lapsed, contending that there is a lack of legislative will. He also mentioned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor who had introduced the Women's Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill which proposed free sanitary pads for women by public authorities.
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Talking about Menstruation Benefits Bill, the petitioner said that it was introduced to provide certain facilities for women at the workplace during periods but was not passed. He said that it was reintroduced in 2022 during the budget session but was disregarded as an "unclean topic".
The plea has also sought directions for the implementation of Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, of 1961, which would lead to the appointment of inspectors to implement the Act. The petitioner pointed out that currently, only Meghalaya has appointed officers. As per the petitioner, the matter was also taken up by the Delhi High Court which had asked the Centre and Delhi government to consider the issue.
However, Union Minister, Smriti Irani had told the Lok Sabha that Central Civil Service(Leave) Rules 1972 do not have any provisions for menstrual leave and there is no proposal as well to have period leaves under such rules. The petitioner highlighted that countries like the UK, China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Spain, and Zambia already have a system of period leaves and it's high time that India also thinks about it.
