Supreme Court ready for hearing in Menstrual Pain Leave case

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the matter of giving menstrual pain leave to female students and working women across the country. The PIL was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which has fixed February 24 for a hearing.
Advocate Vishal Tiwari presented this petition before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. He said that menstrual periods have been forgotten by society, the government and other stakeholders in a way. However, some institutions and state governments took note of it.
Vishal Tiwari cited examples of companies like Ivipannon, Zomato, Byju's, Swiggy, Mathrubhumi, Magzter, Industry, ARC, Flymybiz and Gozoup which have started giving period pain leave. The petitioner asked the Supreme Court to direct the state governments to frame rules regarding the grant of menstrual pain leave.
The petition also sought immediate implementation of Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, under which inspectors are appointed to enforce the provisions of the Act. The petitioner said that according to online research, only Meghalaya had issued a notification in 2014 appointing inspectors.
He said in the petition that Bihar is the only state which gives special menstrual pain leave under a 1992 policy. The petitioner also stated that non-grant of menstrual pain leave in other states is violative of the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. He also told the court that two private member bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha in this regard, but both lapsed.