Supreme Court Collegium again backs gay lawyer Saurabh Kirpal for HC judge

Disagreeing with the Centreu2019s position, the Supreme Court Collegium Wednesday reiterated its November 11, 2021 recommendation to appoint senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, an openly gay person, as a judge of the Delhi High Court.
A three-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said Kirpalu2019s appointment as a judge was pending for five years and had to be processed u201cexpeditiouslyu201d.A statement uploaded on the Supreme Courtu2019s website read, u201cIn this backdrop, the Collegium resolves to reiterate its recommendation dated 11 November, 2021 for appointment of Shri Saurabh Kirpal as a Judge of the Delhi High Court which needs to be processed expeditiouslyu201d.Supreme Court Collegium reiterates its recommendation for appointment of Saurabh Kirpal as a judge of Delhi High Courtu201cThe recommendation unanimously made by the Collegium of the Delhi High Court on October 13, 2017 and approved by the Supreme Court Collegium on November 11, 2021 has been referred back to us on November 25, 2022 for reconsideration in light of the observations made in the file,u201d the statement noted.In a letter dated April 1, 2021, the Union Law Minister had stated that though homosexuality stands de-criminalised in India, nonetheless same-sex marriage still remains bereft of recognition either in codified statutory law or uncodified personal law in India. The Centre also apprehended that given Kirpalu2019s u201cattachmentu201d to the cause of gay-rights, the possibility of Kirpalu2019s bias and prejudice cannot be ruled out, Live Law reported.In its statement, the Collegium also lauded Kirpal, son of former Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal, for being open about his sexual orientation, and said that it u201cgoes to his creditu201d that he has not been surreptitious about it.
 Source: Indiatoday During the hearing, the Collegium noted that there were two objections raised to the courtu2019s recommendation. One, the statement said, was that the partner of Saurabh Kirpal was Swiss national, and two, he was in an u201cintimate relationship and is open about his sexual orientationu201d. To this, the Collegium said that the objections did not reflect any u201capprehension in regard to the individual conduct or behaviour of the partner of Kirpal having a bearing on national securityu201d.What are your views on this matter, feel free to share with us in the comments section.