The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking menstrual pain leave for female students and working women in the country.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud heard the petition, and scheduled the case for hearing on February 24,2023.
Advocate Vishal Tiwari,on behalf of the petitioner Shailendra Mani Tripathi, mentioned today in front of the bench that menstrual periods have been largely disregarded by society, the government and other stakeholders, but some organizations and state governments have taken notice.
It explicitly names companies that provide paid time leaves, including Ivipanan, Zomato, Byju’s, Swiggy, Mathrubhumi, Magzter, Industry, ARC, FlyMyBiz, and Gozoop.
Therefore, the petitioner sought the supreme court to order state governments to create menstrual pain leave legislation. It also demanded that Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, which calls for the employment of inspectors to carry out the Act’s requirements, be put into effect.
The petition claimed that, according to online research, only Meghalaya had announced the employment of such officers in 2014 and that, as per a 1992 regulation, Bihar was the only state in India to offer specific menstrual pain leave.
It further stated that denying women in the remaining states menstrual pain leave or period leave violated their right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
In addition, Advocate Tiwari claimed that there was a lack of legislative will to address the idea of menstrual pain leave and demanded the Supreme Court’s intervention, noting that a number of other nations, including the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Spain, and Zambia, already offered menstrual pain leave in some capacity.
