Permanent commission to female officers of armed forces in India

Negating all biological stereotypes & towards transformative constitutionalism 2.0

Abstract

In the past decade, the State via its three organs has unarguably shown an immense enthusiasm for social change, and the most revered of all the media to achieve the same has been ‘judicial review’. In 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind at the International Judicial Conference themed ‘Judiciary and the Changing World’ also applauded the proactive pivotal role of the Supreme court in bringing progressive and dramatic social transformation through radical reforms. One of such instances was where the Apex court exercising its power of judicial review gave a boost to this social revolution, invoked the idea of transformative constitutionalism and tarmacked the road for female officers to permanent commission in the Armed Forces whilst promoting the idea of gender equality and removing gender bias. This article analyses the transformative character of the Indian constitution in the light of the judgements of the Supreme Court in “The Sectt. Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya (2020)” and, “Union of India v. Ltd. Cdr. Annie Nagaraja (2020)” which endorsed the ‘principle of non-discrimination’ on ground of sex thereby eradicating the gender stereotyes which associate women with ‘weaker sex’.