Brinda Karat hails SC verdict on permanent commission to women in Army

Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision which grants permanent commission to women in Army, CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat on Monday said that the apex court has upheld women's right to equality.

"We really welcome the judgement. For so many years women in the defence forces have been fighting for their constitutional right to equality, now the Supreme Court has upheld that right," said Karat here.

She also hit out at Modi government and said, "It (the verdict) has also nailed the utter hypocrisy of the Modi government which till the last minute was fighting against granting women equality in the defence forces. The court has rightly said that stop your stereotyped thinking about women and the Modi government should understand and implement women's Constitutional right to equality."

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that the permanent commission will apply to all women officers in the Indian Army in service, irrespective of their years of service.The apex court also ordered that after the judgment of Delhi High Court, Centre should grant permanent commission to women officers.

While reading out the order on the Centre's appeal challenging the Delhi High Court's ruling in 2010, for granting permanent commission to women officers in Army, Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud said, "Soldiers must have the physical capability to do one's role. Women in the Army is an evolutionary process."

"The policy decisions of the Union Government are very unique as far as the employment of women officers is concerned. We dispose of the petitions and necessary compliance of this court's order within a period of three months," he added.

In April last year, the Army had kicked off the process of inducting women as jawans by starting their online registration for recruitment in the corps of military police.