Ensure all police stations in Delhi have washrooms for women, sanitary pad vending machines: HC

PIL by NGO flags 'near-total absence' of earmarked budgetary allocations for menstrual hygiene

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 5, 2026 10:15 PM IST

The direction by a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia followed a public interest litigation by Justice for Rights Foundation, an NGO, through its women cell representative Muskan Singh Bankura. (Representative Image/ generated with AI)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to conduct a survey of all police stations in the city and take necessary steps to ensure all of them have sanitary pad vending machines and washrooms exclusively designed for women.

Relying on information obtained through RTI between July and August last year from 17 districts and units of the Delhi police, the NGO, in its PIL, has flagged that there is a “near-total absence” of functional sanitary pad vending machines, waste incinerators and earmarked budgetary allocations for menstrual hygiene across hundreds of police stations.

According to the NGO, women police personnel are forced to discharge duty without access to basic menstrual hygiene and private, clean washrooms that violates their fundamental rights to dignity, health, privacy, and humane working conditions. The PIL also sought the court’s directions to the Delhi Police and Union Ministry of Home Affairs to disburse earmarked budgets and formulate binding Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

The bench directed the Police Commissioner to submit a report on the availability or non-availability of functional sanitary pad vending machines and washrooms for female officers at the police stations.

The survey has to be completed within six weeks whereafter, based on it, appropriate steps should be taken by the Delhi Police, the court instructed.

The HC also asked the police to submit an affidavit by the next date of hearing, detailing the steps taken to ensure compliance with the court’s directions. It will hear the matter next on September 23.

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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