Maternity Leave: The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that maternity leave is a key part of the reproductive rights of women. A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that no institution can deprive a woman of her right to maternity leave. The teacher approached the court after she applied for leave after the birth of a child due to her second marriage. The teacher was denied this. The bench made these comments during the hearing.
A government teacher from Tamil Nadu was already married once. She also had two children. However, due to various problems, she separated from her first husband and got married for the second time. After a while, she got pregnant. However, being a government teacher, she applied for maternity leave . But the government said that such a leave cannot be given to children born from the second husband. It was refused to grant her leave. With this, the teacher approached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held a hearing on this issue on Friday.
On this occasion, the teacher’s lawyer K.V. Muthu Kumar argued on her behalf. He said that she got a job only after her second marriage. The petitioner clarified that she had never taken maternity leave in the past. He said that the state’s decision violated her fundamental rights. But the government’s lawyer said that these leaves are not applicable to those who became pregnant through a second marriage. The court, after hearing arguments from both sides, sided with the teacher. It commented that maternity leave is very important among the reproductive rights of women. It said that no organization has taken away the rights of women to maternity leave.
In 2017, significant amendments were made to the Maternity Benefit Act as per the orders of the Supreme Court. This particular leave for government and private employees was increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. Women who want to adopt a child are also eligible for 12 weeks of this leave. The Supreme Court has emphasized the right to have this motherhood leave in many cases in the past. It has ruled that leave should be given to all female employees, regardless of the nature of their job.
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