Implement ‘Shuchi’ scheme in letter and spirit, HC tells Karnataka government

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government “to implement in letter and spirit” the ‘Shuchi’ scheme, a menstrual hygiene project of distributing sanitary napkins to around 17 lakh be

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government “to implement in letter and spirit” the ‘Shuchi’ scheme, a menstrual hygiene project of distributing sanitary napkins to around 17 lakh beneficiary adolescent girls, for the year 2021-22. The court issued the direction while noting that the scheme was not implemented in 2019-20 and 2020-21 as the procurement of sanitary napkins to be distributed to adolescent girls was not done on account of financial constraints. “In our view, the provision of separate toilets for adolescent girls in schools and that of [providing] sanitary napkins to such girls on a regular basis are all instances of not only empowerment of the girl child, but also implementation of the fundamental right under Article 21A of the Constitution insofar as girls aged between six to 14 are concerned,” observed a Division Bench comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice J.M. Khazi.