Actor Kirti Kulhari of the ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ fame, strongly believes that women too capable of being in charge of ‘command posts’ in the Indian Army.
She recently took to Twitter to extend her support to a Change.org petition that requests Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to ‘Give Women Command Posts in the Indian Army’.
Started a week ago, the campaign has crossed 10,000 signatures already. It gained more momentum after the case where SC was hearing an appeal by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) against Delhi High Court’s March 2010 judgment that directed the Navy to grant permanent commission to all its women officers on short service commission, and the Centre courted controversy by saying that men in Indian troops aren’t ready to take orders from women commanders.
“Inherent physiological differences between men and women preclude equal physical performance resulting in lower physical standards and hence, the physical capacity of women officers remains a challenge for command of units,” the government’s note, in response to a plea filed by women officers on command posting, read.
The petition was started by author Tejaswini Divya Naik from Mumbai after she came across an article that said the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to include women for command posts in the Indian Army.
“I have dreamed of joining the Army ever since I was 15. Being a fauji daughter, I’ve craved the chance to defend India’s borders, pride and honour like my father did during the Kargil War.”Tejaswini Divya Naik, Change.org
After the Centre’s response was shared in the public domain, many called it regressive, sexist, and not in the spirit of the Indian Army.
A few also found the Centre’s argument reasonable and emphasised that it was simply a matter of ‘ground reality’.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)