New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- No nation can be secure if half of its force is held back, the Supreme Court said on Monday as it struck down the Indian Army's policy of earmarking six out of nine Judge Advocate General (JAG) posts for men and only three for women, holding that the move was "arbitrary", violated the right to equality and ran contrary to the concept of gender neutrality. A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said that the "true meaning" of gender neutrality was that all meritorious candidates, irrespective of gender, must be selected. It directed the Centre and the Army to conduct future recruitments without bifurcating vacancies by gender, making it clear that if all deserving candidates happen to be women, all of them must be selected. "The impugned notification, to the extent it provides for only three vacancies for female candidates as against six for male candidates, is against the concept of equality," the SC said.P4...