INTRODUCTION :
For decades, menstruation in India has been viewed through a prism of religious orthodoxy and social taboo, often labelled as ‘impure’, making it difficult for women to get easy access to menstrual hygiene management. Globally, more than 500 million women, girls, and others who experience a menstrual cycle do not have suitable access to menstrual hygiene management. On average, a person menstruates from the age of 13 years to 51 years, every 28 days, with a 3-7 day range. This means that they will have 456 periods for about 38 years and use more than 10,000 menstrual products.[1] This inability to manage menstrual hygiene with dignity affects access to education, health, sanitation, equality, and human dignity.
Girls lose their education, women lose their employment opportunities, all because the law chose not to look. However, recent jurisprudential shifts have re-characterised menstrual hygiene not merely as a health issue, but as a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. The transformation of a biological process into grounds for discrimination has been challenged effectively in the highest courts, establishing that “the menstrual status of a woman cannot be a valid constitutional basis to deny her the dignity of being.[2]
INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK:
The World Health Organization explicitly refers to menstrual health as a fundamental right, given in its centrality to health, well-being, and equitable participation in public life.[3] UNFPA frames menstruation as a human rights concern, urging comprehensive education and destigmatisation.[4]
The UN General Assembly, through Resolution 64/292 (2010), formally recognised the human right to water and sanitation as essential to the full realisation of all human rights.[5] The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, through General Comment No. 15, established that this right encompasses access to water for personal and domestic uses, and necessarily includes menstrual hygiene.[6]
The CEDAW Committee in Vertido V. The Philippines reinforced the State’s due diligence obligations in eliminating gender-based discrimination in access to health resources.[7] Earlier, Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque had expressly noted that sanitation services designed without accounting for menstruation constitute structural discrimination against women and girls.[8]
Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 demands equitable sanitation by 2030, prioritising women and girls to end open defecation and ensure menstrual hygiene management.[9]. The WHO/Europe emphasises MHM- friendly schools with free products, puberty education for boys and girls, surveillance, private toilets, and teacher training under the Protocol on Water and Health.[10]
CONSTITUTIONAL AND DOMESTIC JURISPRUDENCE :
In India, the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution has been expansively interpreted to include the right to health and dignity
In Devika Biswas V. Union of India, the Supreme Court[11] of India held that reproductive health constitutes an inseparable component of the right to life, and that the State’s systematic failure to ensure basic reproductive health services amounts to a constitutional violation.[12] The body’s reproductive process demands legal recognition and State protection and directly translates to menstrual health.
In Rajeeb Kalita V. Union of India & Ors., the court addressed the lack of basic amenities in court complexes. The court affirmed that functioning, hygienic, and accessible toilets are an essential aspect of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21, ensuring human dignity. The court emphasised the need for ‘Sanitary Napkin Vending Machines’ and ‘incinerators’ in High Courts and District Courts. [13]
The Justice Amitava Roy Committee, appointed by the SC, submitted a series of reports detailing the onslaught of incarceration faced by vulnerable groups, particularly regarding menstrual hygiene and transgender rights. The Committee found that less than 40% of Indian prisons provide sanitary napkins to female inmates, due to which many prisoners are forced to use unhygienic alternatives such as rags, ash, or old cloth, leading to severe health risks. The Committee suggested mandating the regular and free provision of sanitary napkins to female inmates. It advocated for a safe & hygienic methods for the disposal of menstrual waste within prison premises.
THE CRIMSON CONSTRAINT; HIDDEN STRUGGLES FOR INDIAN WOMEN :
In a country of over 355 million menstruators, menstruation remains one of the most persistent drivers of inequality for women and girls across India. What is a routine biological process becomes a monthly encounter with stigma, poor health, lost education, and institutional neglect. Menstruation is historically linked with myths of impurity, and despite increasing awareness, these practices have not reduced to a greater extent.
Women often face deep-rooted sociocultural exclusion, be it being forbidden from entering the kitchen, touching food, exclusion from entering temples, shrines, or participating in or performing religious rituals. In some communities, even today, women are forced to sleep outside the house or in designated isolation places and are restricted from visiting friends, attending social events, or touching personal items like clothes or water vessels, etc.
All this social exclusion makes one wonder: Is this really the Viksit Bharat we are aiming for? How can development occur in a nation where women continue to suffer so much?
- The Numbers Behind the Silence: The 5th National Family Health Survey, conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences under India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, found that only 77.3% of women aged 15-24 use hygienic menstrual protection, with the figure dropping to 72.3% in rural areas and further to just 32% in Bihar. [14]
- The Educational Toll: Nearly one in 4 girls aged 15-19 reports missing school during their menstrual period because of pain, inadequate sanitation facilities, fear of embarrassment or social stigma.[15] Absence of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities leads to monthly absenteeism of 3-5 days. Families who believe menstruating girls have entered reproductive age pull their daughters from school.
- Healthcare Barriers: Only 27.7% of young women aged 15-24 have full access to safe products and proper sanitation. Stigma often delays treatment. 57% of women aged 15-49 suffer from anaemia, which is directly worsened by inadequate nutrition and menstrual health care.[16] Despite the MoHFW’s Menstrual Hygiene Scheme, gaps persist in awareness, product access, and disposal infrastructure.
- Prison Hardships and Asylum Neglect: Overcrowded jails fail women inmates, even though the Model Prison Manual 2016 mandates sterilised pads, but implementation lags amid water shortages and overuse of facilities. Mental health facilities overlook the menstrual needs of patients. National Commission for Women reports overcrowding and absence of basic facilities like clean water and bedding in 27 government psychiatric homes.
- Workplace Woes: Factories and offices often lack disposal bins, and rural workers face period poverty without affordable pads and sanitation products, leading to health decline.
INDIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL BREAKTHROUGH :
The Supreme Court of India recently, in the landmark judgement of Dr Jaya Thakur V. Government of India[17] established menstrual hygiene as a fundamental right under Article 21.
FACTS: Dr Jaya Thakur, a social worker, filed a petition demanding that every state must supply free sanitary pads to girls from Grade 6 to Grade 12, and guarantee functional toilets in every government-aided or residential school. The petition was grounded in the alarming reality of school absenteeism and dropout rates among menstruating girls across India.
HELD: The Supreme Court, in its judgment, recognised that access to menstrual health and hygiene is an integral component of the right to life, dignity and bodily autonomy under Article 21. The court stated that the inaccessibility of menstrual hygiene management measures undermines the dignity of a girl child, as dignity finds expression in conditions that enable individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering.
- Directions Issues: Schools must now provide free oxo-biodegradable sanitary products to girls in Classes 6 to 12 and ensure access to functional girls’ toilets and establish menstrual hygiene management corners stocked with emergency supplies, extra uniforms and underwear. The court also directed authorities to create awareness about menstrual health and directed teachers, both male and female, to instruct children, including boys, about the biological reality of menstruation.
CONCLUSION :
Menstruation in India exposes a gap between ideals and reality. While the recent modernisation has changed the taboo attached to menstruation, still this modernisation has not been able to change our society completely. When lack of sanitation, healthcare access, or dignity during menstruation restricts education, health, and liberty, the harm is not private but structural. But recent jurisprudences have established that our law is the one that listens and adapts for the betterment.
Author(s) Name: Ojaswini Jaswal (Shoolini University)
References:
[1] The Lancet Reg Health- Americas, Menstrual Health: a neglected public health problem, (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9903018/, 2022 Nov 11) accessed on 2026 Feb 20
[2] Indian Young Lawyers Association & Ors V. State of Kerala & Ors., (2019) 11 SCC 1
[3] World Health Organisation, ‘Menstrual health is a fundamental human right’ (https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/15-08-2024-menstrual-health-is-a-fundamental-human-right,15 August 2024)
[4] UNFPA, ‘Menstruation and human rights – Frequently asked questions (https://www.unfpa.org/menstruationfaq, May 2022)
[5] United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 64/292, The Human Right to Water and Sanitation, UN Doc A/RES/24/292 (28 July 2010)
[6] UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 15, The Right to Water, E/C.12/2002/11 (20 Jan 2003), paras 2, 11
[7] Vertido V. The Philippines, CEDAW Committee, Communication No. 18/2008, UN Doc CEDAW/C/46/D/18/2002 (2010)
[8] Catarina de Albuquerque, ‘Sanitation and Human Rights’, Report of the Special Rapporteur, UN Doc A/HRC/12/37 (2009) para 70
[9] Referred to as MHM after this
[10] Supra note 3
[11] Referred to as SC after this
[12] Devika Biswas V. Union of India (2016) 10 SCC 726
[13] Rajeeb Kalita V. Union of India &Ors., 2025 INSC 75
[14] National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21), International Institute for Population Sciences, MoHFW, Government of India (https://www.nfhsiips.in/nfhsuser/nfhs5.php )
[15] Supra note 14
[16] Supra note 14
[17] 2026 INSC 97
