Saurabh Kirpal is an Indian senior lawyer, LGBTQ+ activist and a book author, who is often in the news for openly embracing his homosexuality and standing up for it. In November 2021, for the first time in the country, an openly gay senior lawyer was considered by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as a judge in the Delhi High Court. An alumnus of Cambridge University and Oxford University, Kirpal is believed to have an impressive resume filled with countless historical cases.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Saurabh Kirpal was born on Tuesday, 18 April 1972 (age 50 years; as in 2022) in Delhi. His zodiac sign is Aries. A graduate in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, Saurabh went to England to pursue a Bachelor of Laws degree from Oxford University. After this he obtained a master’s degree in law from Cambridge University.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: dark brown
Family
Saurabh comes from a family of lawyers.
parents and siblings
His father, Bhupinder Nath Kirpal, was the 31st Chief Justice of India, serving from May 2002 until his retirement in November 2002. Saurabh’s mother’s name is Aruna Kirpal, and he has two siblings.
Saurabh Kripal’s father
wife and children
Saurabh is unmarried and has no children.
sexual orientation
Saurabh describes himself as gay. In an interview, when he was asked about his upcoming story, he said,
I discovered my sexuality at a very young age…it took me some time to come to terms with my sexuality. Once I did that, I didn’t come out to my parents until I was in my mid-twenties. But coming out to my parents was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was a joyous and glorious experience… My father was a Supreme Court judge at that time. He said he was surprised to hear this, but he was happy for me and he would support me no matter what. My mom said she suspected it but wasn’t really sure. Whatever decision I take, she will also support it.
relationships/affairs
Kirpal is in a relationship with her partner of 20 years, Nicolas Germain Bachmann. Nicolas is a European and works in the Swiss Federal Foreign Office in New Delhi. He is also a Swiss human rights activist.
Saurabh Kripal with his partner
livelihood
early career
Soon after completing his graduation from the University of Cambridge, Saurabh spent a brief stint with the United Nations in Geneva, after which he returned to India in the 1990s and practiced in the Supreme Court of India for over two decades. Kirpal’s two-decade-long tenure in the apex court helped him gain expertise in the areas of civil, commercial and constitutional law. The advocate also assisted former Attorney General and senior Supreme Court lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, which, according to Saurabh, honed his abilities as a lawyer and made him proficient in the field.
career advancement
In October 2017, the media reported that the Delhi High Court Collegium had unanimously recommended Saurabh for appointment as a permanent judge of the Delhi High Court. The collegium comprised Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Ravindra Bhatt. In March 2021, he was appointed as a senior advocate after all 31 judges of the Delhi High Court unanimously supported his elevation. According to reports, such unanimous support was quite unusual. Eight months later, in November 2021, Saurabh’s name was endorsed for another promotion. The Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI NV Ramana recommended him as a judge of the Delhi High Court and sent his name to the Law Ministry. The move was a historic decision as Kirpal became the first self-proclaimed homosexual to be endorsed for such a high office in the country.
notable cases
Saurabh has represented litigants in many landmark commercial and constitutional cases in various courts of India. He has represented Anil Ambani in his legal battle with his brother and has appeared for Ritu Dalmia and others. Kirpal was one of the prominent lawyers who represented petitioners Sunil Mehra and Navtej Singh Johar in the case Navtej Singh Johor vs Union of India, in which the apex court delivered a landmark judgment in September 2018 decriminalizing homosexuality. When the LGBTQ+ activist was asked about his views on the decision on Section 377, he said in an interview,
This decision had no significant impact because Section 377 only made consensual gay sex illegal… Section 377 only dealt with consensual gay sex, but since it was a crime it affected other things too . Legal changes like the verdict on Section 377 will help in gradually bringing social change. I think history has shown us that positive changes for the LGBTQIA+ community around the world started with amendments in laws.
Book
The advocate is also the editor and author of an anthology titled “Sex and the Supreme Court: How the Law is Upholding the Dignity of the Indian Citizen”, which was published in 2020. The book contains a collection of articles by famous personalities. The Indian legal fraternity includes Justice BD Ahmed, Justice MB Lokur and Justice AK Sikri as well as lawyers like Mukul Rohatgi, Madhavi Divan, Maneka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju.
Saurabh Kirpal’s book
Controversy
Postponed appointment to judgeship
The postponement of Kirpal’s recommendation for judgeship three times in a row led to nationwide criticism in the legal fraternity. In April 2017, when Saurabh agreed to be appointed as a judge in the Delhi High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, the then acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, proposed Kirpal’s name for elevation. The same year, on October 13, Saurabh’s name was recommended for elevation by the Supreme Court collegium for the first time; However, after 2017, when several CJIs took charge, their promotions stopped. For the first time, the senior advocate’s name was removed from the recommendation list of judges by the SC Collegium in September 2018. The collegium did not issue any formal statement on its decision. In January 2019, the collegium headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi again sent Kirpal’s name into limbo after examining the material on record and observations made by the Justice Department in Saurabh’s file. At a meeting of the three-member Supreme Court Collegium held on 1 April 2019, led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, no decision was taken on elevating Kirpal to the rank of judge, again citing similar reasons. Following the controversy, it was alleged that Kirpal’s recommendation was deferred due to some concerns regarding the nationality of his partner Nicolas Germain Bachmann. Saurabh later admitted that perhaps his sexual orientation was the real reason behind postponing his promotion. He said in an interview,
From media reports it appears that the issue may be the nationality of my Swiss partner. If I were a simple man with a foreign spouse, this wouldn’t be a problem; Former Supreme Court judges have had foreign spouses. But it became an issue because I’m not.”
While upholding the recommendation of his appointment as a judge of the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court Collegium said on January 19, 2023 that the government cannot assume that Mr Kripal’s Swiss partner was anti-India; Furthermore, the Collegium found Mr. Kirpal to be an asset to the Bench.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Saurabh likes to drink alcoholic beverages.
Saurabh Kripal holding a glass of wine
- Apart from work, Kirpal’s hobbies also include reading and music. He enjoys listening to Indian classical music and reading non-fiction books, especially on social sciences and philosophy. According to Saurabh, his favorite book is Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.
- The senior advocate revealed in a conversation that he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up, and he loved studying science and astronomy, which led him towards physics majors.
- Saurabh revealed in an interview that, initially, he was unsure about studying law at Oxford University as he could not afford it, but later went ahead after securing a scholarship. He added,
I had planned to study law at Delhi University, but I felt I needed to expand my horizons and experience life outside India, even though I was never going to settle there permanently. I applied to Oxford to study law and when I got accepted there, I wasn’t quite sure whether I would get in or not. I depended on being able to get scholarships, which I was lucky enough to get. This is how I managed to study law at a university.
- He considers his father, former Chief Justice of India and senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, as his mentor.
- Saurabh is also a trustee of the Naz Foundation Trust, a Delhi-based NGO that pioneered the fight to decriminalize homosexuality in India.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn