The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea for framing a menstrual leaves rule for female students and working women across the country on February 24.
Urging the top court to direct state governments to establish regulations for menstrual pain leaves, the plea sought effective implementation of Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, which involves the appointment of inspectors to enforce the Act’s provisions.
The plea was mentioned by Advocate Vishal Tiwari before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who agreed to hear the case.
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In addition to this, the plea mentioned some companies like Ivipanan, Zomato, Byju’s, and Swiggy, where they provide paid period leaves.
Citing the precedence, the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) stated that Meghalaya had issued a notification in 2014 for the appointment of such officers and that Bihar was the only state in India that provided special menstrual pain leave as part of a 1992 policy.
Terming the denial of the period leave by states as a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
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“This is a violation of Article 14. Women suffer from physiological and health issues during their menstrual cycles and they are being treated differently in different states of India. However, women, having one citizenship, i.e., of India, must be treated equally and should be conferred with equal rights, otherwise, it causes a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” the plea said.
The plea stated that countries like the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Spain, and Zambia are already providing menstrual pain leave to women in one form or another.
