More Stories

Informist, Friday, Mar. 13, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Friday said mandating menstrual leave through legislation may have unintended consequences for women's employment and it would cost their careers. Observing that nobody will hire women if there is any such law, the bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant refused to entertain a petition seeking mandatory menstrual leaves for women. 

 

"...the moment you introduce it as a compulsory condition in law, you do not know the damage it will do to the career of women. Nobody will give them responsibilities, even in judicial services, a normal trial will not be assigned to them," said Chief Justice Kant. "Affirmative action in respect of females is constitutionally recognised. But look at the practical reality in the job market. The more unattractive the human resource, the less is the possibility of assumption in the market. Look at it from the business model. Will any employer be happy with the competing claims of other genders?" said the bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

 

This is the third time the petitioner Shailendra Mani Tripathi, an advocate, had approached the court, with each time the apex court directing the government to take a policy decision. However, the petitioner said that the government has not yet taken any decision on Tripathi's petition. The Supreme Court Friday once again asked the government to consider the petitioner's representation for framing a menstrual leave policy.

 

The bench also questioned the locus of the petitioner and said that no woman herself had approached the court and the petitioner was not himself an aggrieved party. "These petitions are deeply rooted, designed PILs (public interest litigations). You are not a bona fide petitioner. This is basically only to create a type of impression in young women that you still have some natural issues and you are not at par with male persons and you cannot work like them during a particular time," said the top court.

 

The petitioner had sought the court to direct the government to come out with policies which recognises the problems faced by women during menstrual pain and for grant of such relief which are necessary including the grant of leave in the workplace. It sought directions to the government to fill in the lacunae that existed regarding leave to working women and female students. Odisha had a leave policy since 1992, Karnataka recently allowed such a policy, and Kerala allowed relaxation in schools, said the petitioner. Many private organisations are voluntarily allowing period leave, he added.

 

In January, the Supreme Court had said the right to menstrual health was a part of the fundamental Right to Life and Right to Education under the Constitution and ordered all states and Union territories to provide free sanitary pads in all government and private schools. Inaccessibility of menstrual hygiene management measures undermines the dignity of a girl child, as dignity finds expression in conditions that enable individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering, said a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.