The Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi turned down a petition to make menstrual leave mandatory. They claimed that employers 'will not hire women if we make such a law'.
The bench also claimed that if the law is made mandatory, it will create a psychological fear that women are 'less' than men and that menstruation is something 'bad' happening to them."
In 2013 the Kerala government had granted menstrual leave for women students in all state-run universities and Karnataka government had also implemented a law for menstrual leaves at the workplace. so why doesn't the supreme court recognize it? We interviewed Senior Advocate Vibha Dutta Makhija who shared her analysis of the Supreme Court's stance on the issue.