Advocate Saurabh Kirpal elevated as judge of Delhi High Court

Senior Delhi High Court Advocate Saurabh Kripal, has been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium as Delhi High Court judge.

Kripal’s elevation as a judge of the High Court has been pending since September 6, 2018, when the Collegium deferred is elevation. There has been a general belief among advocates across the country that Kripal was being denied the appointment as a judge due to his sexual orientation. The Collegium’s decision in 2018 came two days after a five-judge Constitution Bench read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised homosexuality. Kripal will be the first gay judge of the High Court.

Kripal, a gay, was the counsel for the two key petitioners in that case, Navtej Johar and Ritu Dalmia. Kripal’s elevation as deferred on three other occasions—January 2019, April 2019 and August 2020. However, in April this year, all the 31 judges of the Delhi High Court unanimously designated him as a senior advocate.

On the decision to deny him the post of judge of the High Court, Kripal had told a publication in an interview, “The fact that my partner of twenty years is a person of foreign origin is a security risk is such a specious reason that it leaves one to believe that it is not the whole truth. That is the reason I believe my sexuality is the reason why my candidature has not been considered for elevation as a judge.”  His partner is a European and works in the Swiss Embassy.

The current Collegium comprises Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, Justice U U Lalit and Justice A M Khanwilkar.

In 2017, the then Delhi High Court collegium comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and justices Sanjeev Khanna and Ravindra Bhat had recommended Kirpal’s name. While Justice Mittal retired in December 2020, justices Khanna and Bhat are now Supreme Court judges.

Kripal studied law at Oxford University and at Cambridge University. His father, B N Kirpal, was the Chief Justice of India in 2002.