Who is Saurabh Kirpal, the advocate who awaits his elevation as India's first openly gay judge?

Sarabh Kirpal, the openly gay senior advocate and author, believes that the delay in his appointment as a judge is because of his sexual orientation. Kirpal's appointment as a judge has been stalled since 2017. 

The Delhi High Court Collegium had recommended Kirpal to be appointed as a judge in 2017. Subsequently, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his name four times, but on all occasions, his appointment was deferred.

"The reason is my sexuality I don't think the government necessarily wants to appoint an openly gay person to the bench," NDTV quoted Kirpal as saying.

The government, after a background check, had flagged Kirpal's partner a "potential security risk" because of his foreign origin. However, Kirpal dismissed the claim and said he believed it was rather his sexual orientation that was coming in the way of his appointment, according to media reports.

In March 2021, the then CJI SA Bobde wrote to the Union government, seeking additional information and more clarity on its reservations over Kirpal’s name. The Centre reiterated its apprehensions about Kirpal.

The same month, Kirpal was designated as a senior advocate by the Delhi high court after all 31 judges of the high court unanimously endorsed his designation. The proposal can once again be returned by the Centre.

Once his elevation is approved by the Centre, Kirpal would become India's first openly gay judge, a milestone for LGBTQ rights in India.

According to reports, Kirpal was part of the team of lawyers that represented Sunil Mehra and Navtej Singh Johar, who were among the petitioners in the landmark case in which the apex court decriminalised homosexuality. He is the son of Bhupinder Nath Kirpal, who served as the Chief Justice of India in 2002.

Kirpal studied Physics at Delhi's St. Stephens College. He, then, went to Oxford University on scholarship to study law and later earned a master's degree from Cambridge University. 

He worked with the United Nations in Geneva for a brief period before coming back to India in the 1990s. Since then, he has been practicing in the top court and has argued in several important cases, most of which were constitutional, commercial, civil, and criminal in nature. 

He also worked as a junior advocate in the chamber of former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi. He was elevated as a senior advocate in March 2021 after a unanimous decision of Delhi High Court's 31 judges.  
 
Kirpal has played a key role in the fight for LGBTQ rights in India. He represented two key petitioners in a case on which the top court gave a landmark verdict in 2018 that decriminalised gay sex.