In a rare move, two Army nursing officers have moved a habeas corpus petition against the Indian Army accusing it of illegally detaining 11 of their juniors.

The petition gave a fresh twist to the ongoing stand off between military nurses and the Army Headquarters over them wearing a new uniform that would differentiate them from rest of the officers.

The 11 nurses, whose alleged detention has led to the habeas corpus, had refused to wear the new uniform, a beige colour safari suit, for their formal induction into the Army and their commissioning was called off. The Army Headquarters is presently conducting a court of inquiry against the nurses.

On April 15, there was a stand off between the young nurses and Army authorities after the former refused to wear the new uniform, and came out in Olive Green uniform.

The nurses alleged that they were detained, and refused food and water for several hours. Almost similar scenes were witnessed a few days later yet again when the Army asked them to come in new uniform for induction.

Giving a new twist to the entire controversy and aggravating it further, yesterday the two nursing officers moved the habeas corpus petition before a two-judge bench of the Delhi high court.

Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate CN Sreekumar argued that the trainee nursing officers should be immediately 'released', paid compensation for the harassment and paid full salaries for the last several months during which they have not been commissioned.

Justice DK Jain and Sikri ordered the Union government's counsel to respond by Wednesday.

Sreekumar says the nurses were kept under detention by the Army authorities and were not even served food on April 15. And that under the pretext of the ongoing Court of Inquiry they are being harassed and not being inducted into the Army as officers.

It is very rare for such disputes to be turned into a habeas corpus, which has a vast scope in legal terms. The Army faces rare instances of habeas corpus in counter-insurgency situations when they detain people without any proper records.

The nurses and army have been on a warpath for several months now, after the army decided that the nurses should wear a uniform different from the Olive Green that other officers wear. The decision was taken on the basis of complaints from doctors and other regular officers who argue that the nurses, though given Army ranks, are not equal to them. There is an ongoing case over the issue.

Army nurses claim that they are officers by all counts and should be allowed to wear the Olive Green uniform.

Behind the entire controversy is the shortage of qualified nurses in the Army and the greener pastures available for competent nurses abroad.

In fact the young nurses who are just beginning their careers have been on an aggressive mode against the authorities. It is speculated in the military circles that they want to quit the Army rather than be here as second-class officers. Once they leave the service, there are immense opportunities available to them, because they are better trained than their civilian counterparts and have better command of English, a sure passport for nurses to the West.