Who is Saurabh Kirpal? who's likely to become India's first gay judge

Ground report | New Delhi: Who is Saurabh Kirpal; The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday approved the proposal of senior advocate Saurabh Kripal as a judge of the Delhi High Court. If he holds the position, he will be India's first gay judge. Saurabh Kripal graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and then pursued LLB from Oxford University with a scholarship. After this, he took an LLM degree from Cambridge University.

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Who is Saurabh Kirpal

He also worked with the United Nations in Geneva for some time and then came to India in 1990. Here he practiced in the Supreme Court for two decades. When Saurabh Kripal was six years old, his father retired judge BN Kripal became a judge of the High Court. He worked in several High Courts including Gujarat. After this his father also became the Chief Justice of India.

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The Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation comes nearly three years after it first considered Kripal's candidature in 2018, when the Delhi High Court collegium headed by Justice Gita Mittal recommended the appointment of Kripal as a judge in October 2017. Was. The SC Collegium then postponed its decision. Kripal's recommendation on three other occasions - in January 2019, in April 2019 and in August last year.

The delay in recommending Kripal has drawn criticism in legal circles, with many speculating that it is due to his sexual orientation. The government has also repeatedly objected to his promotion, claiming a conflict of interest because his partner is European and works with the Swiss embassy.

“The fact that my partner of 20 years is a person of foreign origin, a security risk is such a specific reason that it leaves one to believe that this is not the whole truth. That's why I believe my sexuality itself. The reason is that my candidature as a judge was not considered,” Kirpal had said in an interview in April.

Sex and the Supreme Court

He was one of their lawyers in the Supreme Court in the case Government of India Vs Navtej Singh Jauhar. This matter was related to LGBTQ matter. He made strong arguments for making Section 377 of the IPC illegal. In this case, the Supreme Court, giving a historic decision, had repealed this section making homosexual relations a crime. Saurabh Kripal credits his father CJI BN Kripal and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi for his ability in the field of law.

He edited an anthology titled "Sex and the Supreme Court: How the Law Is Upholding the Dignity of the Indian Citizen". He is also a board member of the Naaz Foundation Trust. He is the son of Bhupinder Nath Kripal who served as the 31st Chief Justice of India from May to November 2002.

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