Outrage at MDU Rohtak as Women Workers Asked to ‘Take Photo’, Prove They’re Menstruating

Jalandhar: Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak, Haryana's leading state varsity, is mum these days – seemingly to hush up a disgraceful incident that has stirred massive outrage.

The incident in question – women workers allegedly forced by male supervisors to click photos of their sanitary pads to "verify" that they were menstruating – should have led to public anger sooner but was sought to be hushed up, confined to the university as 'taboo' or something too difficult to discuss openly.

It was only after some women sanitation workers, students and local Dalit groups protested and took a stand against the incident that it came to light. Protests erupted on the university campus after some allegedly incriminating videos and photos were shared with the chairperson of the Haryana State Women Commission.

However, when confronted, the supervisors allegedly informed the angry women that they had only acted as per orders 'from above'.

The supervisors contended that the women sanitation workers had been making "lame excuses" – with an apparent reference to period leave – to avoid work and, therefore, were forced to show proof.

While two supervisors, Jitendra and Vinod, have been suspended by the university, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Haryana Police is investigating the entire incident.

Also read: Left Behind: The Women Missing from India’s Period Leave Conversation

Talking to The Wire, Station House Officer (SHO), Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) Police Station Inspector Roshan Lal said that an FIR (no 183/2025) with sections related to outraging a woman's modesty, using criminal force on a woman, criminal intimidation, intruding on a woman's privacy and sections related to conspiring to do a criminal act of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS), was lodged against supervisors Jitendra Kumar and Vinod Hooda and Assistant Registrar Shyam Sunder, on October 29.

Inspector Roshal Lal said that the SIT formed under the supervision of superintendent of police Surinder Singh Bhoria, at Rohtak, "has recorded the statements of the victim women under section 183 of the BNS, while a case under Atrocities Prevention Act was also registered against the accused”.

It is learnt that both supervisors, Kumar and Hooda and the women workers they forced to take photographs were contractual employees of the university, hired through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited (HKRN), a Haryana government department meant to hire employees on contract.

Interestingly, the university is named after social reformer Dayanand Saraswati who was instrumental in promoting equal rights for women and removing untouchability from society. However, the latest incident and the varsity’s response to it were in stark contrast to the fundamental ideals of ensuring dignity and justice to women.

‘Prove you're menstruating, photograph your sanitary pads’

The incident took place on October 26, a Sunday, when Haryana governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh was on a three-day state visit to the university. All the sanitation workers were on duty on the campus on that day. The problem arose when some women workers arrived late for work.

Representative image of women sanitation workers.

When questioned by Kumar and Hooda, some of the women informed them that they were unwell because of their periods. But both men accused them of lying and forced them to show proof that they were menstruating.

Talking to The Wire, a woman sanitation worker who was present during this incident said that the women workers were on duty in the hostel premises.

“One of the female workers on duty informed the supervisor that she wanted to go home as she was menstruating and not in good health. Within seconds, another woman also said that she too wanted to go home, as she too was having periods and was having a problem for the past one month,” she said.

Hearing the claims of the women, the supervisors initially termed it as an excuse but when they insisted that they be allowed to go home, the supervisors asked them to prove that they were menstruating.

Also read: COVID-19: Sanitation Workers Require Access to Menstrual Health

“As if that was not enough, the supervisors instructed a female employee to take the two women to the washroom and click photographs of their sanitary pads. The women undressed in front of that woman and had to click photographs of sanitary pads to prove that they were menstruating.”

It is learnt that when the women workers initially refused to take the photographs, the supervisor threatened to dismiss them from work.

"The supervisors crossed all limits of sanity and even asked the both the women sanitation workers to click photos of their private parts as a proof," she added.

"Nari shakti ki baat kartay hain, soch to inki aaj bhi ghatiya hai. (Men talk about women's empowerment but their thinking is still lousy)," she said, enraged, adding that the women were left crying in humiliation but the supervisors did not budge from their stand.

The sanitation worker told The Wire that when both the women workers appeared before the university’s committee comprising the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, Rohtak and other officials, they broke down while narrating the experience.

"We are deeply thankful to the university students who took a stand for us and were fighting for our dignity," she told The Wire.

Haryana State Women's Commission response unclear

The chairperson of Haryana State Women Commission, Renu Bhatia, has reportedly taken suo motu notice of the incident. However, Bhatia, known for her vociferous stand on every social and political matter, did not respond to The Wire’s calls and queries.

A staunch supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bhatia had notably played a significant role in the arrest of Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, whose Facebook post on Operation Sindoor led to a national debate – and a subsequent case against him.

MDU Rohtak director, public relations, Ashish Dahiya was also unavailable for comment. This story will be updated if any response or statement from either arrives.

Women workers unaware of period leave policy

It is not known if BJP-ruled Haryana has a uniform period leave policy for women employees. Recently, Karnataka became the first state to implement a policy of one day paid leave for all government and private sector women employees.

Apart from Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Bihar, too, have a period leave policy but it is largely confined to government employees.

When asked about period leave policy, one of the woman workers said, "Had it been in place, those women would have never faced this humiliation."

"In fact, many women are not even aware of any such policy. And even if such a policy is implemented, the government will never cover private-sector women workers,” she said.

“Agar hum safai karamchari hain to kya hamari koi izzat nahi hai? (If we are sanitation workers, does it mean that we do not have any dignity?)” she said, emphasising that the university’s response and that of the Haryana government would have been different – more sensitive and proactive – had this incident happened with a woman official.

"Indeed, no male staffer would ever have dared to question a woman official [in this way]," she said.

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