My opinion piece for The Asian Age (23rd Feb 2020) on women in the military, in the backdrop
of the Supreme Court decision on the subject:
Won’t
be talking point a few years down the line
Constitutional Courts propel equality in the
military
Navdeep Singh
The decision of the Supreme Court of India
granting women the same career progression as men in the Indian Army, has
generated quite a debate. The Apex Court has upheld the judgement of the Delhi
High Court which had asked the Ministry of Defence to consider women for grant
of Permanent Commission (PC) at par with male officers. Till that point of
time, women officers were only allowed Short Service Commission (SSC) under the
“Women Special Entry Scheme” upto a maximum of 14 years, while male SSC
officers were eligible to be considered for PC. The minimum service required to
earn a pension in the defence services being 20 years, women officers were
mandatorily released from service at crossroads in mid 30s, without a permanent
career, without financial backup or social security and at an age when family
and other commitments are at peak.
The debate on the subject however seems to
have veered off the mark. Many commentators, including some military veterans,
have questioned the physical ability of women to command troops in frontline
combat, while others have raised a worry about a situation if a woman officer
is taken Prisoner of War (POW) by the enemy and some have even spoken as to how
would women give 100% to their job considering there might be maternity breaks
in between.
Much of these discussions are otiose.
Firstly, the issue before the SC was not
frontline combat but simply grant of PC and ‘command appointments’ instead of
‘staff appointments’ and that too in earmarked posts. While the litigation was
pending, the government had issued a policy allowing women to be considered for
PC with a caveat that they will not hold ‘command’ positions at par with men
and would only hold specified posts. The policy also unreasonably required
women to provide the option for PC within 3 to 4 years of service while there
was no such condition imposed on men. It was the contention of the litigants
that they could not be slotted in specific posts when there were no such
fetters on their male counterparts. It may be noted again that the issue was
not “command” in combat arms on the battlefront but regular appointments involving
command of troops in branches in which women were already serving as SSC Officers.
In any case, such a policy was absurd on the face of it since it allowed them
to hold myriad appointments while they were SSC Officers but restricted their
employability as soon as they became permanent. In certain quarters there was a
fear that women would usurp ‘soft’ appointments leading to additional pressure
on males who would remain deployed in tougher areas. However, their
employability on varied (rather than restricted) appointments should now rather
terminate this fear since it is known to all that it would be a level field
hereafter, without any favour based upon gender.
Secondly, when there is no deployment of
women on frontline combat, there is no question of them being taken POW. And
even if hypothetically they were so deployed, they are soldiers first and then
women, and our concern should be regarding an Indian soldier taken POW, and not
a woman. In any case, to raise an issue which is an impossibility just to
create some kind of an emotionally chilling effect does not seem judicious.
Thirdly, the bogey of maternity leave is quite lame. It is well known that this is likely to emanate during the younger years and not during the later years when such officers are granted PC. When this has not posed a problem during SSC, why would it interfere during PC when the incidence, on the contrary, is likely to be very low? Members of other uniformed organisations, such as the Police and the Central Armed Police Forces, have accepted them with open arms without any impediment and it is painful to hear such regressive comments from members of the military community. Needless to state, some of these organisations deploy women in much tougher roles and in lower ranks.
I have always maintained that women in the
defence services are not meant for parades and showcasing in events but must be
placed in responsible positions in multiple roles to the greatest extent
possible. The switch-over would result in some churning and may require some
fine-tuning but a few years from now, this will not even remain a talking point
with women & men well assimilated in a system characterised only by merit
and competence. he positive and very mature statements of the Raksha Mantri and
the Army Chief only point towards an egalitarian and progressive time ahead for
the military aided with some practical and well-chiselled policy interventions
in the near future.
- - -
The
author is a lawyer in the Punjab & Haryana High Court and Member of the
International Society of Military Law and the Law of War.
