India’s high court may soon see Saurabh Kirpal, climbing the stairs as India’s first openly homosexual judge. Here’s all about the person setting a new record and milestone in India’s LGBTQ+ movement.
Who is Saurabh Kirpal?
Saurabh Kirpal is one of the lawyers who were instrumental in leading the constitutional battle for decriminalizing same-sex relationships in India. He is the son of Justice BN Kirpal who previously served as India’s Chief Justice between May and November 2002. He is a Physics graduate from St. Stephens in New Delhi and later studied law at Oxford and Cambridge. Kirpal has been practicing law in India for over 20 years now. Specializing in commercial, civil, and constitutional law, he is the editor of “Sex and the Supreme Court”. The book is an anthology on issues relating to gender, law, and equality.
All about the new move
The positive change comes with the Supreme Court panel’s recommendation of senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal for the position at Delhi’s high court. Hence, rejecting the government’s objection against the elevation. According to the Indian Express report, the decision was made by a three-member Supreme court committee led by NV Ramana, the Chief Justice of India, on November 11. However, the final answer on his elevation changed four times since the first proposal in October 2017. Additionally, the intelligence bureau was performing a background check as Kirpal’s partner, a foreign official, may pose a security risk.
Kirpal believes his sexual orientation is the reason behind the changes. “My professional competence was known to the high court and the Supreme Court collegium. And my case for elevation was presumably not deferred for that reason. Media reports seemed to indicate the issue might have been the nationality of my partner who is Swiss. Had I been a straight man with a foreign spouse, this would not have been an issue; former Supreme Court judges have had foreign spouses. But it became an issue only because I am not,” said Kirpal. However, when SA Bodbe, the then Chief Justice demanded clarification from the ministry of law. Unfortunately, they went back to pointing the previous objections around Kirpal’s partner.
