Outrageous Criterion: Rajasthan HC Denounced 'Chest Measurement' for Female Candidates (Image: twitter.com/policerajasthan)

The “unwarranted humiliation” of women candidates should be avoided, said Rajasthan High Court denouncing the criterion of chest measurement to gauge the lung capacity of female candidates during physical examination in recruitment process.

The practice is “absolutely arbitrary and outrageous”, NDTV quoted the Rajasthan High Court.

It also interfere into the “dignity and right to privacy guaranteed under the Constitution”, the court added.

Justice Dinesh Mehta, who traced the observation, have also asked the authorities to consider expert opinions for an alternative option.

Find an “alternative method to determine the desired level of lung capacity to avoid this unwarranted humiliation of women candidates”, he directed.

Mr Mehta was considering a petition filed by three female candidates against their disqualification on the parameter of chest measurement despite clearing the PET (Physical Efficiency Test) for the post of Forest Guard.

The court opted not to involve itself into the recruitment process, which had already taken place. But strongly stated that, “some deliberation is necessary about the very requirement of chest measurement for the female candidates, may it be for the recruitment of Forest Guard or Forester or any other post”.

“The size of the chest and its expansion in the case of a female candidate may not necessarily be a pointer of physical fitness and a litmus test of the lungs’ capacity”, Mr Mehta observed.

“Even if it be so, such measurement impinges upon or intrudes on the privacy of a female. Apart from being irrational, prescribing such criterion disrupts the dignity, bodily autonomy and mental integrity of a woman”, he added.

The measurement was more than required, said the petitioners to the court. The high court sought a report from the medical board of AIIMS on it.

“Two of the candidates” chest measurements were less than required in the “normal condition” while one of them had chest measurement less than required in the “expanded condition” “, said AIIMS in the report.

According to the report, the court rejected the petition and supported the decision of disqualifying the petitioners by the recruiting agency. But it strongly objected the procedure of chest measurement in female candidates.