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2026 Supreme(Online)(SC) 1749

J.B. Pardiwala, R. Mahadevan, JJ
Jaya Thakur – Appellant
Versus
Government of India – Respondent
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1000/2022

Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: 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 the Respondents: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.

Menstrual hygiene is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, requiring the Union and State Governments to jointly ensure effective implementation through concrete, measurable actions.

Headnote:(A) Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 21 - Menstrual Hygiene as a Fundamental Right - The Court declared menstrual hygiene as a facet of Article 21 of the Constitution, emphasizing that mere declaration by the Court is not sufficient; the Union and State Governments must act jointly to make this fundamental right meaningful and workable. (Para 4)

(B) Directions for Compliance - Monitoring and Reporting - The Court directed the Union to ensure effective compliance of its directions in letter and spirit, to keep monitoring and guiding all States, and to periodically collect data and information from States regarding compliance. The Court further directed that fresh compliance reports be filed every three months, and that all State governments furnish status reports to the Union by 15.08.2026. The Nodal Ministry for filing compliance reports shall be the Ministry of Education, Union of India. (Paras 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11)

Facts of the case:
The present petition concerns compliance with the Supreme Court's earlier directions regarding Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in schools. The Court had directed the Union and States to implement various measures. A compliance report was filed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on behalf of the Union, summarizing the steps taken by States/UTs and various ministries. The petitioner's counsel, Mr. Varun Thakur, also filed a note highlighting shortcomings in the compliance, including lack of functional girls' toilets in many schools, insufficient budgetary allocation, theoretical rather than ground-level implementation, and the absence of field reports.

Findings of Court:
The Court took cognizance of the shortcomings pointed out by the petitioner's counsel and directed the Union to study the note and address the highlighted aspects. The Court reiterated that menstrual hygiene is a fundamental right under Article 21 and stressed the need for proactive and positive action by the Union and State Governments to make this right meaningful. The Court also directed the Union to monitor, guide, and collect data from States, and to file fresh compliance reports every three months.

Issues: The main issues were the adequacy of compliance with the Court's directions on menstrual hygiene management and the need for effective ground-level implementation.

Ratio Decidendi: The Court reaffirmed that menstrual hygiene is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, and that the Union and State Governments are jointly obligated to ensure its effective implementation through concrete, measurable actions rather than mere policy-level descriptions.

Result: Matter posted for further compliance on 01.09.2026; directions issued for continued monitoring and reporting.

Table of Content
1. what is the status of compliance with the court's directions on menstrual hygiene? (Para 1 , 2 , 3)
2. what directions are issued for further compliance and monitoring? (Para 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11)

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

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2026 Supreme(Online)(SC) 1749

J.B. Pardiwala, R. Mahadevan, JJJaya Thakur – AppellantVersusGovernment of India – RespondentWrit Petition (Civil) No. 1000/2022

Menstrual hygiene is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, requiring the Union and State Governments to jointly ensure effective implementation through concrete, measurable actions.

J.B. Pardiwala, R. Mahadevan, JJ
Jaya Thakur – Appellant
Versus
Government of India – Respondent
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1000/2022