The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that keeping married women out of the Judge Advocate General, the legal arm of the Indian Army, is hostile and discriminating. The court made the statement while hearing a public interest litigation by a lawyer who alleged that married women faced institutionalised discrimination, PTI reported.
“Today, women are fighter pilots, and you say they are not fit for the Judge Advocate General,” the bench said. “What is the logic behind ousting married women?”
The petitioner alleged that after joining the JAG, women were not allowed to marry. But the government argued that this ban applied to both unmarried men and women and only during the ten-month training period.
The High Court heard another similar plea, which claimed that only gainfully employed men were recruited in the Territorial Army – an organisation of volunteers who get military training and are the second-line of defence, mobilised in cases of an emergency.
“Why are women not fit for the Territorial Army,” the court asked, directing the Army to file written submissions in both matters by August 24.
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