Menstrual hygiene verdict meant for classrooms where girls hesitate to seek help: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday said its judgment on menstrual hygiene is meant for the classrooms where girls hesitate to seek help and the teachers who cannot help due to lack of resources. The Registry shall notify this matter after three months alongwith the compliance report on behalf of the States and Union Territories before this very Bench, it said.

The Supreme Court on Friday said its judgment on menstrual hygiene is meant for the classrooms where girls hesitate to seek help and the teachers who cannot help due to lack of resources. In a landmark judgment to ensure gender justice and educational equity, a bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on Friday declared the right to dignified menstrual health as part of the right to life and education under the Constitution. It also issued a slew of directions including the one asking all states and Union Territories to provide free oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkins to girl students and functional, gender-segregated toilets for all the students. Justice Pardiwala, in his concluding remarks, reached out directly to the students affected by these systemic failures. ''We wish to communicate to every girl child, who might have become a victim of absenteeism because her body was perceived as a burden, that the fault is not hers,'' it said. ''Before we part, we would like to say something on the issue we have addressed. This pronouncement is not just for the stakeholders of the legal system, it is also meant to be for the classroom where girls hesitate to ask for help, it is for the teachers who want to help but are restrained due to lack of resources and it is for the parents who may not realise the impact of their silence, and for the society to establish that progress is measured how we protect the most vulnerable. ''These words must travel beyond the courtroom, law review reports and reach the everyday conscience of society at large,'' it said. The bench directed the apex court registry to forward one copy each of this judgment to all the high courts, state governments and Union Territories. It also said the copy of the judgment be also sent to ministries of health, education, drinking water and sanitation, and women and child development. ''We treat this matter as part heard. The Registry shall notify this matter after three months alongwith the compliance report on behalf of the States and Union Territories before this very Bench,'' it said.

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