In a first, SC recommends promotion of openly gay lawyer as judge of Delhi HC

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of senior advocate Saurabh Kripal as a judge of the Delhi High Court. The move is being described as historic as it is the first instance of an openly gay member of the judiciary being elevated to the bench.

A statement issued by the apex court said that a decision in this regard was taken during the meeting of the collegium on November 11.

If appointed, Kripal will be India’s first openly gay judge.

In March of the same year, the then Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde asked Central Government to clarify its stand on elevation of Saurabh Kripal as Judge of Delhi High Court.

This was reportedly the fourth time that the final decision on Kripal’s promotion was deferred since his name was unanimously recommended by the Delhi HC Collegium in October 2017.

A graduate of Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, Saurabh Kripal earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Oxford University followed by a master’s degree from Cambridge University.

He practiced in the Supreme Court of India for more than two decades after a brief stint with the United Nations in Geneva.

Saurabh Kripal was the counsel for the petitioners in Navtej Singh Jauhar v Union of India, which led to the quashing of Section 377 of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in September 2018.

In an interview to ThePrint last year, Kripal had said that he believed his sexual orientation was probably the reason why the SC collegium deferred a decision to elevate him to the high court.