NEW DELHI: For Meenakshi Lekhi, fighting for permanent commission for women army officers has been a long battle of over 10 years which began from the Delhi High Court and ended triumphantly in the top court.
It all started when a bunch of army officers approached Lekhi, now a sitting MP from New Delhi constituency, for fighting their case.
Soon after the judgment was pronounced, Lekhi hugged and congratulated the officers who were present in the courtroom and clicked photos with them.
According to petitioners in the case, Lekhi didn’t take a single penny from them. “We went to her and said we can’t afford her fees. She said , ‘just don’t worry about that’. Till date she has not taken even 1 rupee from us,” said one of the petitioners.
A jubilant Lekhi said, “Now women will get equal rights in the Army like men... The court has also given its observations on how the army authorities tried to mislead them. The court has given women officers all the rights that male officers have and sky is virtually the limit.”
Counter attack
Slamming Rahul Gandhi for criticising the govern-ment, Lekhi said it was the Congress regime that argued against permanent commissioning of women.