Will not allow gay sex, adultery in Army: Army Chief Gen. Rawat
New Delhi, Jan 10: Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat Thursday said gay sex and adultery will not be allowed in the Indian Army, months after the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality and struck down a colonial-era adultery law.
"In the Army, it is not acceptable," he told a press conference while replying to a question on impact of the Supreme Court's two historic verdicts.
The Army Chief said though his force is not above the law, it will not be possible to allow gay sex and adultery in the Army.
"The Army is conservative. The Army is a family. We cannot allow this to perpetrate into the Army," he said on adultery, adding soldiers and officers deployed along the borders cannot be allowed to be worried about their family.
The conduct of the Army personnel is governed by the Army Act.
"In the Army we never thought this can happen. Anything that was thought of was put in the Army Act. It was something which was unheard of when the Army Act was made. We never thought this is going to happen. We never allow it. Therefore it was not put in the Army Act," he said.
He further said, "I think anything what is being said or talked about will not be allowed to happen in the Indian Army."
At the same time Gen. Rawat said the Army is not above the law and that the Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the country.
The Army has been grappling with cases of adultery and the accused often face general court-martial. In Army parlance, adultery is defined as "stealing the affection of a brother officer's wife".
"We are not above the country's law, but when you join the Indian Army, some of the rights and privileges you enjoy are not what we have. Some things are different," the Army Chief said, addressing the press conference ahead of the Army Day on January 15.
In what was hailed as a historic move, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court last September unanimously decriminalised part of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual unnatural sex, saying it violated the rights to equality.
The apex court last year had also struck down a 158-year-old colonial-era law which it said treated women as "chattel of husbands". The law provided for punishing a man for an affair but not the woman.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
