NEW DELHI: Holding that menstrual status of a woman is deeply personal and an intrinsic part of her privacy, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday said that social stigma associated with the natural, biological and physiological process of a woman has no place in a constitutional order and any discrimination on that basis cannot be allowed.
“The stigma around menstruation has been built up around traditional beliefs in the impurity of menstruating women. They have no place in a constitutional order. These beliefs have been used to shackle women, to deny them equal entitlements and subject them to the dictates of a patriarchal order. The menstrual status of a woman cannot be a valid constitutional basis to deny her the dignity of being and the autonomy of personhood” Justice DY Chandrachud said in his judgement.
“Irrespective of the status of a woman, menstruation has been equated with impurity, and the idea of impurity is then used to justify their exclusion from key social activities. Notions of purity and pollution, which stigmatise individuals, can have no place in a constitutional regime,” he said.
“Prejudice against women based on notions of impurity and pollution associated with menstruation is a symbol of exclusion. The social exclusion of women, based on menstrual status, is but a form of untouchability which is an anathema to constitutional values,” Justice Chandrachud said.