The Supreme Court Bar Association on Tuesday urged the apex court to lay down guidelines to prevent “the rampant violation of dignity, privacy and bodily autonomy being faced by women and girls in various institutional settings in the context of their menstrual and gynaecological health”.

In a writ petition filed through advocate-on-record Pragya Baghel, the association cited a recent news report that revealed a disturbing incident on October 26 involving three women sanitation workers employed by Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The women were forced to produce photographs of their sanitary napkins to justify their claim of undergoing periods.

“It appears that the sanitation workers were called in for duty due to the visit of the Haryana governor even though Sundays are considered weekly off for the sanitation staff.

“As per a written complaint lodged by the workers with the registrar of the university, the workers were instructed to work faster by their supervisors even though they were physically unwell due to menstruation. It is most disturbing that the supervisors appeared to have demanded photographic proof from the workers by asking them to send photos of their sanitary pads.

“The workers were verbally abused, humiliated and pressured until they were compelled to take photographs in the washroom,” the association said while citing news reports.

The petition also referred to the apex court recognition in the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Calcutta of the “deeply patriarchal attitudes and biases that women face at workplaces” and had held that preserving safe conditions of work is central to realising equality of opportunity to every working professional.