Right to menstrual hygiene part of right to life: Supreme Court

THe redress to catamenial hygienics is a component of the compensate to life under the Constitution’s Article 21, the Supreme Court said on Friday, and issued a series of directions to ensure functional toilets, sanitary napkins, and menstrual support systems in every school across the country.A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the absence of “gender-segregated toilets and lack of access to menstrual absorbents” strips girls of “dignity, privacy, equality and meaningful access to education.” It added that menstrual health cannot remain a matter of charity or policy discretion. The bench said it flows directly from constitutional guarantees.The bench passed the order on a plea seeking direction to the Union government to ensure free sanitary pads and separate toilets for girl students in classes 6 to 12 in government-aided schools. It ordered that all schools, whether private or state-run, must ensure adequate toilets, sanitary napkins, water, and soap for hand washing, and spare uniforms for all girl students.The bench formulated and answered core questions around equality, dignity, privacy, and education. It asked whether the unavailability of separate toilets for girls and non-access to menstrual hygiene products violated the right to equality under the Constitution’s Article 14, the right to life and dignity under Article 21, and the right to free and compulsory education under Article 21A and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. It answered the questions in the affirmative.The bench said the inaccessibility of menstrual hygiene management “undermined the dignity of the girl child” and excluded her from “equal participation.” It added equality expresses itself through the right to participate on equal terms. “Equality of opportunity requires the state to remove barriers that prevent girls from accessing education on the same footing as boys.”The court said the dignity finds meaning in conditions that allow individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering. It added that privacy remains inseparable from dignity. The court said the link places a “positive obligation on the state not only to avoid violating privacy, but to actively protect it through necessary measures”.The court said access to safe, effective, and affordable menstrual hygiene measures enables girls to achieve the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It added such a right also includes access to education and information about sexual health.The court said the absence of toilets and menstrual support interferes with the right to education under Article 21A. “All schools, government-run or privately managed, must comply with Section 19 of the RTE Act. Any violation could lead to derecognition.”The court issued three binding directions. It directed states and Union territories (UTs) to ensure that every school, government or private, has functional, gender-segregated toilets with adequate water facilities. It said all new schools must ensure privacy and account for the rights of persons with disabilities. The court added that every school must provide biodegradable sanitary napkins within the toilet premises.The court said states and UTs must establish menstrual hygiene management systems in schools, equipped with spare uniforms and essential materials to address menstrual emergencies. “This judgment speaks not only to lawyers, administrators, and legal stakeholders, but to classrooms where girls hesitate to ask for help, to teachers constrained by lack of resources, to parents unaware of the harm caused by silence, and to society at large.”The court said progress must be measured by how society protects its most vulnerable. It added that its judgement was a message to every girl forced into absenteeism because her body became a burden. “The fault is not yours.”