
The Supreme Court criticised the Indian Army for not permitting female candidates in the National Defence Academy (NDA), Sainik Schools, and other military institutions and called them out their “regressive mindset”.
The Supreme Court asked, “Don’t do tokenism. Why do you need the judiciary to pass orders every time?”
“You’re compelling the judiciary to keep on granting orders. It’s better that you (Army) structure it than inviting court orders. We are permitting the girls who approached the court to sit for the NDA examination because we will be considering the larger issue,” SC said.
The top court has permitted female aspirants to take the NDA examination in an interim measure. “We will consider the issue of admission of girls to NDA as a policy on September 5,” ruled the bench, comprising of Justices SK Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy.
“It’s a question of mindset which is not changing. That’s why despite so many opportunities in the SC and HC, we couldn’t persuade the government. Every time the order has come from the court it has expanded the scope,” said the Supreme Court.