Menstrual Health Fundamental Right Under Article 21; Ensure Girls Get Free Sanitary Pads In Schools : Supreme Court

Declaring that the right to menstrual health is part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court on Friday issued a slew of directions to ensure that every school provides biodegradable sanitary napkins free of cost to adolescent girls.The Court also issued directions to ensure that schools are equipped with functional and hygienic gender-segregated toilets.The Court directed the pan-India implementation of the Union's national policy, 'Menstrual Hygiene Policy for School-going Girls' in schools for adolescent girl children from Classes 6-12.A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan has passed the following directions:1. All States/UT must ensure that every school, whether government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, is provided with functional gender segregated toilets with usable water connectivity. 2. All existing or newly constructed toilets in schools shall be designed, constructed and maintained to ensure privacy and accessibility, including by catering to needs of children with disabilities.3. All school toilets must be equipped with functional washing facilities and soap and water available at all times. 4. All states/UTs must ensure that every school, whether government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, provide oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkins manufactured in compliance with the ASTM D-6954 standards free of cost. Such sanitary napkins must be made readily accessible to girl students, preferably within toilet premises through sanitary napkin vending machines or, where not visible, at a designated place. 5. All States/UTs must ensure that every school, whether government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas establish menstrual hygiene management corners. It must be equipped with spare innerwears, uniforms, disposable pads and other necessary materials to address menstrual urgency.The Court has also issued directions for the disposal of sanitary waste. 1. All States and Union Territories shall ensure that every school, whether Government-run or privately managed, in both urban and rural areas, is equipped with a safe, hygienic, and environmentally compliant mechanism for the disposal of sanitary napkins, in accordance with the latest Solid Waste Management Rules.2.Each toilet unit shall be equipped with a covered wastebin for the collection of sanitary material, and cleanliness and regular maintenance of such bins shall be ensured at all times. Before parting, Justice Pardiwala, who has authored the judgment, said: "This pronouncement is not just for stakeholders of the legal system. It is also meant for classrooms where girls hesitate to ask for help. It is for teachers who want to help but are restrained due to a lack of resources. And it is for parents who may not realise the impact of their silence and for society to establish its progress as a measure in how we protect the most vulnerable. We wish to communicate to every girlchild who may have become a victim of absenteeism because her body was perceived as a burden when the fault is not hers."The bench formed four questions: 1. Whether the unavailability of gender-segregated toilets and non-access to menstrual absorbent would be said to be in violation of the right to equality for adolescent girlchildren under Article 14?Answer: The substantive approach to equality under Article 14 demands that treatment be accorded with due regard to the individual, institutional, systemic, and contextual barriers that impede the translation of rights in reality. At the same time, the State, as a benefactor, is under an obligation to remedy such structural disadvantage."For a menstruating girl child who cannot afford menstrual absorbents, the disadvantage is two-fold. First, vis-à-vis menstruating girl children who can afford menstrual absorbents. Secondly, vis-à-vis male counterparts or nonmenstruating counterparts. Further, when the menstruating girl child is also a child with disability, she is not merely facing disadvantages arising from menstrual poverty, but is additionally subjected to other disadvantageous consequences flowing from the intersection of gender and disability."From the perspective of substantive equality, the absence of menstrual hygiene measures entrenches gendered disadvantage by converting a biological reality into a structural exclusion. The denial of basic enabling conditions, i.e., lack of clean and functional washrooms, menstrual products, disposal mechanism, and awareness about MHM measures, impedes not only a girl child's right to participate in education, but also her right to opportunity to compete, to advance, and to realize her potential throughout her life. It is crucial to address these deficiencies to prevent temporary exclusion from turning it into permanent inequality. 2. Whether the right to dignified menstrual health could be said to be a part of Article 21 of the Constitution?Answer: The...

Menstrual Health Fundamental Right Under Article 21; Ensure Girls Get Free Sanitary Pads In Schools : Supreme Court

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

"The absence of safe and hygienic menstrual management measures undermines dignified existence."

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