Plea before SC, calling for menstrual pain leave or period leave for women in India

Case: Shailendra Mani Tripathi v. Union of India and Ors

During the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, a public interest litigation petition was filed calling for menstrual pain leave or period leave for women in India.

The petition alleged that society, the legislature, and other stakeholders ignore menstrual periods knowingly or unknowingly. According to the petitioner, some Indian companies offer paid period leaves, such as Ivipanan, Zomato, Byju's, Swiggy, Mathrubhumi, Magzter, Industry, ARC, FlyMyBiz, and Gozoop.

Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi filed a petition urging the Supreme Court to order State governments to set menstrual pain leave rules.

According to the petition, directions were also sought to implement Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which deals with the appointment of inspectors who will oversee the implementation of the Act's provisions. Based on online research, the petitioner argued that Meghalaya is the only state that has provided for such officers to be appointed via a 2014 notification.

According to the submission, Bihar is the only State in India that provides special menstrual pain leave as part of its 1992 policy.

In this background, the petitioner also claimed that the denial of menstrual pain leaves or period leaves to women in the remaining States amounts to a violation of their right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. Further, it has been pointed out that two private member bills have been introduced in the Lok Sabha on related matters, but both have lapsed.

According to the petition, in 2018, Dr. Shashi Tharoor introduced the Women's Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill, which proposed that public authorities should provide free sanitary pads to women.

The other related Bill was introduced in 2017, Menstruation Benefits Bill.

According to the petitioner, the Legislative Assembly ignored the Menstrual Benefits Bill of 2017 when it was presented during the budget session of 2022.

Another PIL on menstrual leave had been ordered by the Delhi High Court to be considered as a representation by the Central government and the Delhi government. As the petitioner argues, there is a lack of legislative will to deal with the concept of menstrual pain leave, as the Union Minister revealed in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. She has called for the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter because there is no legislative will.

It was also pointed out that other countries such as the UK, Zambia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Spain are already providing leaves for menstrual pain in some form.