The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) sent a letter to Indian Bank on Monday in response to media allegations that it had drafted new guidelines prohibiting women who were more than three months pregnant from joining service after being properly selected.
“The Commission has learnt that the Bank has allegedly framed rules which state that if a woman candidate is three months pregnant, then she would be considered as ‘temporarily unfit’ and would not be given immediate joining upon her selection. This will lead to delay in their joining and subsequently they will lose their seniority (sic),” the notice said.
According to the DCW, the move looked to be discriminatory and unconstitutional because it went against the Code of Social Security, 2020's maternity benefits.
“Further, it discriminates on the basis of sex which is against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India,” the notice read.
The DCW requested a response from the bank by Thursday. On Monday, the panel wrote to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, requesting that he intervene and issue instructions to all banks to stop from issuing such guidelines. The DCW noted that this was the second bank to do so, following the State Bank of India, which drafted identical policies earlier this year but ultimately withdrew due to reaction.
Activists have also called for the Indian Bank guideline to be repealed. Mariam Dhawale, general secretary of the All-India Democratic Women's Association, claimed the decision was made in violation of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, which is still in effect because the Code on Social Security passed to replace it has not yet been implemented. According to Ms. Dhawale, the guideline violated women's fundamental rights and regarded pregnancy as an illness.
Ms. Dhawale stated, “It is a direct attack on a woman’s right to dignity and without dignity, how can there be the right to employment.”
She went on to say that protests against the decision were still going on, and that the bank had taken the guideline down from its website but not erased it.
