Breastfeeding in Public Spaces: The Right That Has No Room
In 2025,The Supreme Court of India recognised breastfeeding as a constitutional right and called for dedicated spaces in public buildings. But a year later, most buildings still do not have them. The gap is not in policy. It is in design. Public infrastructure is often imagined as neutral. In reality, it is built around an assumed user —one who does not need privacy, care, or support. For women, especially new mothers, News Source: Live Law this turns everyday spaces like railway stations, courts, and offices into places of discomfort or withdrawal. No one is explicitly excluded. Yet participation becomes difficult.This is how exclusion operates quietly in systems.The court acknowledged a right. But without design, a right cannot function. Democracy does not only depend on laws. It depends on whether everyday environments are built to support those laws.
It depends on whether everyday environments are built to support those laws.