India, May 9 -- The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to not release women short service commission (SSC) officers till their petitions are considered in August, noting that the country needs to stand with them at this time rather than make them run around courts.

"This is the time when each one of us should be with them. We need to keep their morale high. They have better things to do than running around in courts," a bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said.

"All of us feel very little before them. How much they are doing for us," the bench added, referring to tensions along the India-Pakistan border after the armed forces carried out cross-border strikes on May 7 to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Pakist...