Termination of woman's job due to marriage is coarse case of gender discrimination: SC
New Delhi, Feb 21: Terminating the services of a woman on account of marriage under a service rule is a "coarse case" of gender discrimination and inequality, and acceptance of such patriarchal norms undermine human dignity, the Supreme Court has said.
The apex court made the strong observation in a case where former lieutenant Selina John was released from her job in the Military Nursing Service on account of her marriage.
The top court directed the Centre to pay a compensation of Rs 60 lakh to John.
"We are unable to accept any submission that the respondent Ex. Lt. Selina John, who was a Permanent Commissioned Officer in the Military Nursing Service, could have been released/discharged on the ground that she had got married.
"This rule, it is accepted, was applicable to only women nursing officers. Such rule was ex-facie manifestly arbitrary, as terminating employment because the woman has got married is a coarse case of gender discrimination and inequality. Acceptance of such patriarchal rule undermines human dignity, right to non-discrimination and fair treatment," a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said.
The order came on the appeal by the central government against an order of the Lucknow regional bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal declaring John's release from service as wrong and illegal. The bench said the tribunal's order did not require any interference.
It noted that her service was terminated according to Army Instruction no. 61 of 1997, titled Terms and Conditions of Service for the Grant of Permanent Commissions in the Military Nursing Service' which was withdrawn in August 1995.
"Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the present case, we direct the appellant (Union of India) to pay compensation of Rs sixty lakh to the respondent within eight weeks," the apex court said.
It, however, modified the tribunal's order directing John's reinstatement along with back wages and other benefits, saying the compensation would be the "full and final settlement" of all claims made by the ex-officer.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
