New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- The Supreme Court on Monday struck down the Indian Army's policy of reserving six out of nine Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch vacancies for men and only three for women, calling it "arbitrary", unconstitutional and contrary to the principle of gender neutrality.

In an important ruling reinforcing gender equality in the armed forces, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan held that the Army and the Union government could not impose a ceiling on the number of women in the JAG cadre once they had been permitted entry under Section 12 of the Army Act, 1950. "No nation can be secure when half of its population (i.e., its women force) is held back," emphasised the bench, adding that the "true meaning" of gend...