↗️ *SUPREME COURT OF INDIA* CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2526 OF 2025 (ARISING OUT OF SLP (CIVIL) No. 20178 OF 2022) K. UMADEVI VERSUS GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU & ORS. MAY 23, 2025. *Set aside the order of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court which had denied maternity leave to a government teacher for the birth of her third child, citing State policy restricting benefits to two children.* *A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan held that maternity benefits are part of reproductive rights and that maternity leave is integral to those benefits.* *“We have delved into the concept of reproductive rights and have held that maternity benefits are a part of reproductive rights and maternity leave is integral to maternity benefits. Therefore, the impugned order has been set aside. The division bench order has been set aside,” the Supreme Court observed.* *"Maternity leave is integral to maternity benefits. Reproductive rights are now recognized as part of several intersecting domains of international human rights law viz. the right to health, right to privacy, right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to dignity."*