Saurabh Kirpal, senior advocate, is the sonof 31st Chief Justice of India, Bhupinder Nath Kirpal. He is an alumnus of TheModern School, New Delhi and St Stephens College, Delhi University. A topcricketer, he represented both his school and college. Saurabh Kirpal brieflyworked with the United Nations in Geneva. He has been practicing law in Indiafor over two decades. His areas of specialisation include civil, commercial andconstitutional law.
Saurabh Kirpal is openly homosexual andspeaks for LGBTQ rights. He has also authored a book called ‘Sex and theSupreme Court’. His partner Nicolas Germain Bachmann is a foreign national anda Swiss Human Rights activist.
He was first recommended for elevation as a judge by the Delhi High CourtCollegium on October 13, 2017. Thereafter, the consideration to elevate Kirpalwas deferred thrice by the Supreme Court Collegium – once on September 4,2018, for the second time on January 16, 2019, and lastly, on April1, 2019.
“The Supreme Court Collegium, in its meetingheld on 11th November, 2021, has approved the proposal for elevation of ShriSaurabh Kirpal, advocate, as judge in the Delhi High Court,” read thecollegium’s resolution uploaded on the top court’s website on Mondayevening.
The Collegium headed by Chief Justice ofIndia N V Ramana took the call on Kirpal’s name despite repeated objections bythe government which had red-flagged his elevation claiming conflict ofinterest as his partner is European and works with the Swiss Embassy.
The delay in recommending Kirpal was widelyperceived in legal circles to be due to his sexual orientation.
Kirpal had said in an interview in April, “Thefact that my partner of 20 years is a person of foreign origin is a securityrisk is such a specious reason that it leaves one to believe that it is not thewhole truth. That is why I believe my sexuality is the reason why mycandidature has not been considered for elevation as a judge.”
If appointed, Mr Kirpal would be India'sfirst openly gay judge.