The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, on November 15 recommended the elevation of senior lawyer Saurabh Kirpal as a judge of the Delhi High Court.
Kirpal, openly a member of the homosexual community, was first considered for appointment as a Delhi HC judge in 2018. The Collegium had then decided to defer its decision on his elevation.
If the Collegium's recommendation is accepted, Kirpal would become India's first openly gay judge.
Incidentally, Kirpal was the advocate for petitioners Navtej Johar and Ritu Dalmia who had approached the apex court seeking decriminalisation of Section 377 -- the now-scrapped law which criminalised consensual same-sex relations.
The SC had struck down the law in a landmark judgment issued on September 6, 2018 -- two days after the Collegium had deferred the decision on elevation of Kirpal as a judge.
In February this year, the then CJI SA Bobde had asked the Union Law Ministry to clarify its stance on the elevation of Kirpal. Reports had claimed that the Centre had earlier red-flagged his appointment as a judge citing national security concerns as Kirpal's partner is a European and works with the Swiss Embassy.
Notably, Kirpal has practised at the Supreme Court of India for around 20 years, after a short stint at the United Nations in Geneva.
He had pursued his degree in law from Oxford University and subsequently obtained a master's degree from Cambridge University.
Kirpal's father, Bhupinder Nath Kirpal, had served as the 31st Chief Justice of India from May-November 2002.
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