Hyderabad, July 16 -- A woman government employee cannot be denied maternity leave for her second pregnancy merely because she had given birth to twins during her first pregnancy, the Telangana High Court has ruled on Wednesday, July 15.

Justice K Sarath was hearing a petition filed by Jadi Swarupa Rani, 35, a junior lecturer in English at a government college for girls in Mancherial district.

Rani had given birth to twins in 2023 during her first pregnancy. When she delivered a third child during her second pregnancy in April 2026, the college authorities rejected her application for maternity leave, citing the state's "two-child norm" on the ground that she already had two surviving children.

Her counsel, Gattu Vinay Kumar, argued th...