Pooja Thakur the Wing Commander who became the first lady officer to lead the Inter-Service Guard of Honour which was inspected by US President Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhavan in January 2015  has moved court after the Indian Air Force denied Permanent Commission to her. In her petition, Thakur termed the IAF's decision as "biased, discriminatory, arbitrary and unreasonable". The Armed Forces Tribunal has admitted Thakur's plea and asked the Air Force to respond in four weeks. "I am an officer first and then a woman.

Be it male or female. We are just the same. We are given the same kind of training. We are equals," Pooja had said after representing the IAF commanding the Inter-Services Guard. She was commissioned into the IAF in 2001. In 2014, she was offered Permanent Commission but she refused to accept it at that point of time citing personal reasons. She now wants Permanent Commission.