Army nurse fired over marriage to get ₹ 60 lakh in damages
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled that terminating a woman's employment due to marriage is "constitutionally impermissible" and constitutes gender discrimination. The court ordered the Centre to pay ₹ 60 lakh to a military nurse who was removed from service after marrying.
The ruling was issued by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta in response to a request from Selina John, who was discharged from employment after marrying in 1988. Her rank at the time was Lieutenant. She approached the Armed Forces Tribunal in 2012, which ruled in her favour and ordered her reinstatement. In 2019, however, the Centre filed an appeal against the order at the Supreme Court, NDTV reported.
In a ruling dated February 14, the bench ruled that the tribunal's decision does not require any interference. The court noted that a rule enacted in 1977 that permitted dismissal from the Military Nursing Service based on marriage was repealed in 1995.
"Such rule was ex facie manifestly arbitrary, as terminating employment because the woman has got married is a coarse case of gender discrimination and inequality. Acceptance of such patriarchal rule undermines human dignity, the right to non-discrimination and fair treatment. Laws and regulations based on gender-based bias are constitutionally impermissible. Rules making marriage of women employees and their domestic involvement a ground for disentitlement would be unconstitutional," the bench said in the order.
However, the bench modified the tribunal's decision and reinstated the employee with back pay. Instead, it urged the Centre to pay ₹ 60 lakh in compensation. The judges also noticed that Selina John had briefly worked as a nurse for a private company. The court ordered that the Centre pay the compensation within eight weeks of obtaining the order.
