Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J .-"Nature gave women too much power; the law gives them too little." observed Will Henry, American political adviser and columnist. The claim of women to the right to serve in the Armed Forces has been and is a matter of debate in various countries. The denial of such right is pleaded to be a case of gender discrimination. This is more so as the modernization of the Armed Forces has resulted in lesser reliance on a hand-to-hand combat. The debate in each country is coloured by its own social and cultural norms and ethos. In some of the countries women have now been inducted into combat force while in other countries the induction has been restricted to support services to actual combat.

2. The second limb of the claim is for the right to Permanent Commission (for short "PC"). In India the progress in this behalf has been slow on the perceived ground of social norms. There has been induction of women into certain restricted areas of the Armed Forces and that too on a Short Service Commission (for short "SSC") basis. The Government is stated to have carried out studies for grant of PC to women but till date it has not received a favourable response.

3. We