A three-member Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal for the elevation of senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal as a judge of the Delhi High Court. The Collegium led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and comprising of Justices UU Lalit and AM Khanwilkar took the decision at a meeting held on November 11.
After 2017, this is the second time Saurabh Kirpal has been officially recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for elevation as a judge to the Delhi High Court. Earlier the Delhi High Court Collegium had recommended his candidature. In 2017, Justice Gita Mittal, the then-acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, had proposed his name for elevation.
If appointed as the Delhi High Court judge, Saurabh Kirpal would be the first openly gay judge in the country. The delay in recommending Saurabh Kirpal’s elevation was widely perceived in legal circles to be due to his sexual orientation.
Who is Saurabh Kirpal?
Senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal is the son of Justice BN Kirpal, who was the 31st Chief Justice of India from May 2002 to November 2002.
He completed his B.Sc (Hons) in Physics from St Stephens College, Delhi University and then went on to study law at the University of Oxford.
Saurabh Kirpal also holds a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge. Saurabh Kirpal also briefly worked with the United Nations in Geneva.
In his over two decades old law career in India, Kirpal has specialised in areas including civil, commercial and constitutional law.
In March 2021, Saurabh Kirpal he was designated as a senior advocate with all 31 judges of the Delhi High Court unanimously voting in his favour.
Saurabh Kirpal is openly homosexual and speaks for LGBTQ rights. He has also authored a book called ‘Sex and the Supreme Court’.
His partner of 20 years Nicolas Germain Bachmann is European and works with the Swiss Embassy and a Swiss Human Rights activist.
Reports suggest the government red-flagged Kirpal’s elevation because of concerns about a potential conflict of interest as his partner is European.
