No hygiene, no justice: Delhi High Court says clean, functional toilets for women ‘inseparable from dignity, privacy’

What was the plea?

• The petitioner, Smita Kumari Rajgarhia, approached the court raising a grievance regarding the maintenance and upkeep of women’s washrooms in the Saket district court complex.
• The court appointed advocate Harshita Nathrani as a court commissioner to inspect the facilities and submit a report.
• She submitted the report concerning all women’s washrooms across all court complexes.
• The court considered the report and subsequently issued directions to the Public Works Department (PWD) from time to time.
• The court had directed the PWD to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of existing toilets in the court complexes.
• In an order dated September 1, 2025, the Delhi High Court had directed filing of updated status report as regards the work relating to renovation/construction of toilets in the other court complexes.
• On February 25 this year, the court disposed of the plea after the PWD assured it that all necessary steps were taken in furtherance of the order.

Justice Purushaindra K Kaurav noted that the state of washrooms in court complexes bears directly upon the dignity, health and equality of the citizens of this country.

Court’s observations

• It must be emphasised that the issue before this court cannot be viewed as being one of routine maintenance alone.
• The state of washrooms in court complexes bears directly upon the dignity, health and equality of the citizens of this country. Article 21 (Protection of Life and Personal Liberty) of the Constitution guarantees not merely an animal-like existence but a life of dignity, the court observed.
• In Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardichan, 1 the Supreme Court was called upon to decide whether by affirmative action a court can compel a statutory body to carry out its duty to the community by constructing sanitation facilities at great cost and on a time-bound basis.
• In the facts of the said case, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate had issued directions to the municipality to construct drain pipes with flow of water to wash filth and stop the stench caused in the locality.

• The Supreme Court, speaking through V R Krishna Iyer J, held that statutory authorities are under a binding obligation to abate insanitary conditions and cannot avoid that duty on grounds of financial or administrative limitation. Basic sanitation was treated not as charity but as a responsibility under the Constitution.
• The presence of clean and functional toilet facilities, particularly for women, is inseparable from dignity and privacy.
• In Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India, privacy was recognised as an intrinsic part of life and liberty. Access to safe and hygienic washrooms in public institutions, including court complexes, directly implicates these guarantees.
• The right to health, recognised as a facet of Article 21 of the Constitution in Consumer Education and Research Centre v. Union of India, necessarily includes conditions that prevent avoidable disease and indignity.

‘Sanitation threshold of public health’

• Sanitation is the threshold of public health. Court complexes are not merely buildings rather, they are constitutional spaces where citizens seek justice and where judicial officers, advocates and staff discharge public functions.
• The infrastructure of such spaces must reflect the minimum standards consistent with constitutional values.
• The court is also not unmindful that inadequate or unhygienic facilities disproportionately affect women and may operate as a subtle but real barrier to equal participation in the administration of justice.
• Equality under Articles 14 (Right to Equality) and 15 (Right Against Discrimination) of the Constitution is not secured by formal declarations alone but requires institutional arrangements that accommodate basic biological realities.
• Clean and accessible washrooms are, therefore, to be considered not as peripheral amenities but foundational requirements of a functional justice system.
• The court has been assured by the PWD that all necessary steps have been taken in furtherance of the order, and that the PWD will ensure that the women’s washrooms of all court complexes remain clean and hygienic.
• Recording the aforesaid assurance on behalf of the PWD, at this stage, the writ petition stands disposed of.