SC allows permanent commission for women in Navy, asks Centre to finish modalities in 3 months
New Delhi: Maintaining that women and men officers should be treated equally, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared permanent commission for women in the Navy and asked the Centre to complete the modalities within three months.
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said there cannot be 101 excuses for not granting gender equality in the armed forces and a level playing field is needed.
Denying permanent commission to women officers who have served the nation would result in a serious miscarriage of justice, it said.
The bench, also comprising Justice Ajay Rastogi, rejected the Centre's stand that sea sailing duties cannot be granted to SSC (Short Service Commission) women officers in the Navy because its Russian vessels do not have washrooms for them.
Such arguments, the court said, are contrary to the Centre's policy of 1991 and 1998 which lifted the statutory bar on the induction of women officers in the Navy.
The bench quashed the prospective effect of the policy barring women officers inducted before 2008 from being granted permanent commission in the Navy. It also granted pension benefits to women officers who have retired and were not granted permanent commission.
It said there cannot be gender discrimination in granting permanent commission to women officers in the Navy after the statutory bar was lifted by the Centre to allow entry of women.
"Once statutory bar was lifted to allow entry of women officers then male and female officers are to be treated equally in granting permanent commission," the court said.
It said that there is enough documentary evidence to suggest women officers in the Navy have brought accolades to the force.
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2 drown, 4 missing after boat capsizes in Yamuna in UP's Hamirpur
Hamirpur (UP) (PTI): Two persons, including a child, drowned and four went missing went missing after a boat capsized in the Yamuna river here, police said on Thursday.
They said the incident took place on Wednesday evening in Kutubpur Patiya hamlet under Bhauli gram panchayat in the Kurara police station area when nine people, not including the boatman, were returning from a river island.
According to police, the boat lost balance in the middle of the river and capsized around 7 pm.
The boatman, Dheeru, managed to rescue three people -- Vishnu, Rinku and Parul.
The remaining six --five children and a woman-- Akanksha (9), Rani (9), Brijrani (25), Labhyansh (5), Mahesh (6), and Aditya (11) -- went missing, police said.
Later on Thursday, rescue teams recovered the bodies of Akanksha and Brijrani (25.
SHO, Brijesh Kumar said that due to heavy rain since the morning, teams are facing difficulties in rescue operation.
District Magistrate Abhishek Goyal said a search for the missing is being conducted by teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.
Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Adityanath has directed the district administration to investigate the cause of the accident and put in place effective measures to prevent such incidents in future.
He has directed senior police and administrative officials to immediately reach the spot and ensure relief and rescue operations on a war footing, an official statement said.
Adityanath has called for rescue efforts to be intensified to trace the missing persons at the earliest and warned that any negligence in the matter would not be tolerated, it added.
The chief minister also instructed senior district officials to personally monitor the rescue operations and ensure all possible assistance to the affected families.
BJP MLA from Hamirpur Manoj Prajapati said attempts are on to trace the missing. "We will ensure compensation to the affected families in accordance with the rules and submit a report to the chief minister on the incident," he said.
