Termination of women nursing officers from military upon their marriage is patriarchal, unconstitutional: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently held that termination of a woman from the service upon her marriage is "a coarse case of gender discrimination and inequality" which is impermissible [Union of India and ors vs Ex Lt Selina John]..A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta noted there was a rule (later deleted in 1995) which allowed termination of women nursing officers in military upon their marriage but such a rule was patriarchal and went against human dignity."Acceptance of such patriarchal rule undermines human dignity, right to non-discrimination and fair treatment. Laws and regulations based on gender-based bias are constitutionally impermissible," the Court observed.The Court further stressed that rules which make marriage of women employees and their domestic involvement, a ground for disentitlement would be unconstitutional.The Court made the observation in a judgment directing the Central government to pay a compensation of ₹60 lakh to a former military nursing officer who had been discharged from service upon her marriage..Lt. Selina John (appellant) had moved the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in 2012 after being dismissed from her post that was of a permanent commissioned officer rank.When the AFT ruled in her favour and ordered to reinstate her, the Union of India filed an appeal before the Supreme Court in 2019..The bench headed by Justice Khanna said the AFT conclusion's that John’s release from the Military Nursing Service was wrong and illegal, does not require interference.However, the Court decided to modify the AFT direction to reinstate the officer with back-wages. It instead ordered payment of compensation to her, while also considering that she had worked as a nurse in a private organisation."Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the present case, we direct the appellant(s) to pay compensation of Rs.60,00,000/- (rupees sixty lakh only) to the respondent – Ex. Lt. Selina John within a period of eight weeks from the date a copy of this order is served/made available to them," the Court ordered..The Court clarified that the compensation "will be in full and final settlement of all the claims" of the former nursing officer. ."You speak of Nari Shakti, show it here": Supreme Court to Centre over denial of permanent commission to woman Coast Guard officer.Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appeared for the Central government. Senior Advocate R Balasubramanian appeared for the Army Headquarters. Advocates VVV Pattabhi Ram, Neelakshi Bhadauria, Arun Kr Yadav, Ishan Sarma, Aditya Diksit, and N Visakamurthy assisted the two senior counsel.Advocates Ajit Kakkar and Santosh Kumar Pandey represented Selina John..[Read Judgment]