Dr. Jaya Thakur vs Government Of India - 2026 Supreme(Online)(SC) 1749

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2026 Supreme(Online)(SC) 1749

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1000/2022

DR. JAYA THAKUR Petitioner(s) VERSUS GOVERNMENT OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)

Date : 25-05-2026 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. MAHADEVAN

For Petitioner(s) : M/S. Varun Thakur & Associates, AOR
Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Varun Thakur, Adv.
Mr. Ramkaran, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Goel, Adv.
Mr. M.k.ravi, Adv.
Ms. Tanuj Bagga Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Kavya Jhawar, Adv.
Ms. Nandini Rai, Adv.
Mr. Aashay Shukla, Adv.
Ms. Vishakha Singh Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. S.p Singh, Adv.
Mrs. Shraddha Saran, Adv.

For Respondent(s) : Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
Ms. Madhulika Upadhyay, AOR
Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Mr. Veer Vikrant Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Pandey, Adv.
Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv.
Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR
Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv.
Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv.
Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR
Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR
Mr. Prashant Bhagwati, Adv.
Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv.
Ms. Neha Singh, Adv.
Mrs. Shirin Khajuria, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Kajal Dalal, AOR
Ms. Swati Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Gopal, Adv.
Mr. Vaibhav Srivastava, A.A.G.
Ms. Sugandha Anand, AOR
Mr. Ashish Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Raman Singh, Adv.
Mr. Vishnu Sjharma, Adv.
Ms. Madhusmita Bora, AOR
Mr. Pawan Kishore Singh, Adv.
Mrs. Anupama Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR
Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv.
Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv.
Mr. Santhosh K, Adv.
Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv.
Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR
Mr. Rajan K Chaurasia, Adv.
Ms. Silpi S Swain, Adv.
Dr. Ravindra Chingale, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv.
Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR
Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv.
Mr. Lenin Singh Hijam, Adv. General, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Mr. Mayank Sapra, Adv.
Mr. Karun Shamra, Adv.
Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv.
Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar, Sr. Adv., Advocate General
Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR
Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv.
Mr. Zh Isaac Haiding, Adv.
Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, AOR
Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv.
Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.
Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv.
Mr. Maninderjit Singh Bedi, Sr. Adv, Advocate General
Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR
Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR
Ms. Yachna Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Arushi Chopra, Adv.
Mr. Akshat Kumar, AOR
Ms. Anubha Dhulia, Adv.
Mr. Udit Choudhary, Adv.
Mr. Vinayak Menon, Adv.
Mr. Ajay K. Jain, Adv.
Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR
Mr. Nakul Mohta, Adv.
Mr. Amulya Upadhyay,, Adv.
Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR
Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv.
Ms. M. Harshini, Adv.
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.
Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR
Ms. Debarati Sadhu, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Bhalla, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Prava Mohanty, Adv.
Mr. Keshav Bansal, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv.
Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv.
Ms. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv.
Ms. Sansriti Pathak, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Adv.
Mr. Yogesh Vats, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Mr. Chritarth Palli , AOR
Mr. Ar Takkar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Manan Takkar, Adv.
Mr. Narinder Verma, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

1. In pursuance of our order dated 08.05.2026, Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, the learned senior counsel has provided us with a summary of the compliance report earlier filed.

2. The report reads thus:-

“I. In compliance with the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court regarding Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in schools, status reports and compliance submissions were received from 36 States and Union Territories. These were also supplemented by inputs from concerned Ministries/Departments including the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of Education, Department of School Education & Literacy, Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Department of Pharmaceuticals, NCERT and NCPCR with respect to their individual mandates and schemes.

The written responses provided in the affidavit collectively indicate that significant efforts have been made by the concerned stakeholders, all State/UTs and Ministries towards in ensuring that complete adherence and progress towards substantial compliance to the directions of the Honourable Supreme Court Order dated 30th January 2026 within a short period of time. The details of the activities showing acceleration of all the processes for menstrual hygiene management upto the month of April 2026 have been provided in the affidavit filed on the matter.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has strengthened implementation through the National Menstrual Hygiene Policy for School-Going Girls (2024), the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS), and the School Health & Wellness Programme (SHWP). The Ministry of Education and NCERT have initiated curriculum integration, teacher training modules and digital learning resources on menstrual health and related issues. As recorded in their submission, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has expanded awareness and accessibility of Jan Aushadhi Suvidha sanitary napkins, and the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation has supported sanitation and disposal-related interventions through Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) initiatives. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) have undertaken monitoring and coordination efforts for implementation and oversight. Their digital monitoring framework shows diligence to the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

The submissions on record placed in the affidavit reflect that the line Ministries based on their respective mandates along with the States/UTs have undertaken a series of measures to ensure availability of separate toilets for girls, provision of sanitary napkins, establishment of disposal mechanisms, awareness generation, and integration of menstrual hygiene education within school systems. At the same time, other covered areas such as anonymous student feedback systems, accessibility for children with disabilities, and structured monitoring mechanisms are under progressive implementation in the States/UTs.

These efforts have demonstrated that a positive and proactive approach by Ministries and States/UTs, with continuous efforts are being undertaken to achieve comprehensive and sustained compliance.

II. Institutionalization of various grass root interventions, going beyond the standard measures of menstrual hygiene practices, with locally contextualized measures by States/UTs as innovative practices have also emerged to scale up compliance levels.

States/UTs have adopted several innovative local contextual interventions such as MHM corners with Care & Comfort Rooms, Pink Toilets, Garima Peti, Soap Banks, MYTHRI films, MY Pad ATM initiatives, digital IEC platforms, Gaurvi Diwas, Purna Diwas, Kishori Melas, ASEP, BAHINI Scheme, and Kishori Suchita Abhiyaan.

These practices support dedicated MHM support systems included establishment of Care and Comfort Rooms with emergency essentials, menstrual absorbents, spare clothes, first-aid kits, and other emergency support mate

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