The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Army not to victimise the woman officer who had approached the top court over lack of child care facilities at the place where she was posted. Disposing the plea of the woman officer, a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said, “she should not be victimised for coming to the court. In case she is, the options are open to her to come to the court again.” 

The order followed an assurance from the defence ministry that crèche facility will be provided to the child which will be 15 minutes from the officer’s place of duty.

Lt Colonel Annu Dogra had approached the Supreme Court earlier this month pointing out that her temporary posting to Kamptee in Nagpur “deprives her of the fundamental right of tending to her infant by being sent to different locations from Jodhpur which do not even provide the basic facility of crèche”.

The court has last week asked army to provide a workable environment to its women officers and consider the officer’s representation against her assignment to a place that did not have a crèche.

Dogra, an officer, of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch of the army was posted to Kamptee as judge advocate in the court martial of another officer, which entails her travelling from Jodhpur to Nagpur every time during the proceedings.

First Published: Jan 23, 2019 23:56 IST