The fault in their stars

Women Army officers denied permanent commission are now fighting the “systemic discrimination” in courts

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

LIEUTENANT COLONEL Asha Kale of the Army Ordnance Corps was the first woman officer to be posted in Jammu and Kashmir on active counter-terrorism operations. She served in forward areas and was awarded a commendation card in 2020. Despite her exemplary service, she was denied a permanent commission in the Indian Army, which would have put her on the military’s promotion ladder. Lieutenant Colonel Navneet Lobana, too, has a similar story.

She was the first woman garrison engineer in the Indian Army. She also raised a new unit in Udhampur and got an outstanding report for the same. But she, too, did not get a permanent commission.

And now, Lt Col Kale and Lt Col Lobana, along with more than 100 other women officers, have moved Delhi High Court challenging the Army’s “systemic discrimination” in selecting candidates for permanent commissioning.

For many years, women officers in the Army were allowed to join only under the short service commission (SSC) and could serve only up to 14 years. In a landmark judgement on February 17, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that all women officers should be considered for command roles and are eligible for permanent commission.

“Getting permanent commission is our due, but we have to knock the court’s door every time,” said Lieutenant Colonel Ankita Srivastava, an officer of the Army Ordnance Corps. “The Army headquarters has always misinterpreted the court verdicts [to ensure that] female officers do not come anywhere closer to male officers.”