New Delhi, Oct. 15: Tomorrow would have been the last day in uniform for India's first woman officer to win the gallantry medal.

It need not be so now.

The Supreme Court today ordered the army to let Lt Col Mitali Madhumita continue to work if she wanted to.

The order brought the curtain down on a legal battle that has shone a light on issues rarely discussed in the public domain: gender issues in the armed forces, the pulls and pressures of family life on tours of duty, and courage under fire that saved several lives in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Justices T.S. Thakur and Kurian Joseph directed the Centre to "reinstate" the officer with "all pay and allowances", which her lawyer said she had been denied for the past year.

Had the court not issued the order, Lt Col Madhumita would have had to compulsorily retire on Friday since the defence ministry had rejected her request to reconsider her earlier decision to forgo a permanent commission.

The defence ministry feared that acceptance of the request might open the floodgates and several other officers might change their options and seek permanent commission.

But the top court told the defence ministry today: "She is such an educated, qualified and courageous officer... she will be an asset to the army. And if she wants to work and is ready to go for any posting anywhere, let her work."

The reference to courage served to underscore an unforgettable milestone in Lt Col Madhumita's career and India's initiatives in Afghanistan. The short-service commissioned officer had risked her life to save others during a suicide attack on a guesthouse where many Indians were staying in Kabul in 2010.

Madhumita, then a major, had been posted as leader of the English Language Training Team, an army unit, in Kabul when a fidayeen attack took place on February 26, 2010. She ran to the guesthouse and pulled out 19 people from the debris while the attack was still going on. Sixteen people, including six Indians, were killed in the attack.

The officer was conferred with the Sena medal for the act of courage overseas.

Today, the bench wanted to know if she was in the court. Her counsel Aishwarya Bhati said the officer was present, despite suffering from dengue.

Lt Col Madhumita, who remained standing through the two-hour hearing as all the seats had been occupied by advocates, bowed to the judges as soon as the bench passed its order.

She had joined the army in 2000, when women were taken into the army only as short commissioned officers - for five years. This could be extended to a maximum of 15 years, after which their services were terminated.

In 2010, Delhi High Court quashed such gender-based discrimination. The defence ministry appealed in the top court, where the Centre said that permanent commissions would be accorded to women in non-combat arms like the Army Education Corps and the Judge Advocate-General wing.

In February this year, the Delhi-based Armed Forces Tribunal (ATF) ordered permanent status for Madhumita, quashing a 2014 ministry decision that said she could not withdraw an earlier plea that had expressed unwillingness to take up a permanent commission. The tribunal said she had expressed unwillingness as she had been posted in Afghanistan and was facing acute matrimonial problems.

The ATF also noted that government policy permitted a change of mind in circumstances beyond one's control, subject to clearance from commanders in the chain.

Madhumita's commanders had recommended a permanent commission. But instead of granting her the status, she alleged, the ministry got a stay from the top court on the ATF order. On August 11, the ministry communicated to her that her release with immediate effect had been approved, although she had a provisional extension till December 6, 2015. The army later informed her that her services would come to an end on October 16.

In victory, Lt Col Madhumita remained an officer to the core. "I am extremely happy.... I have the highest faith in the judiciary. But kindly excuse me. Since I am in the army, we are barred from speaking to the media," Lt Col Madhumita told The Telegraph outside the court.