No, the man recorded dancing to a Bollywood song is not senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal

By: Ishita Goel
May 5 2023

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Context

In January 2019, India's Supreme Court Collegium recommended lawyer and senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal as a Delhi High Court judge. An LGBTQ+ rights activist, Kirpal made headlines after the government objected to the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation. The government reportedly expressed its concern over his appointment on the basis of his sexuality and his “passionate” advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. According to a report by The Hindu published January 19, 2023, however, the Supreme Court Collegium stood firm by its decision to have the government appoint Kirpal. 

The Hindu reported that the three-member collegium of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and K.M. Joseph took the rare decision by stating "every individual is entitled to maintain their own dignity and individuality based on sexual orientation."

This appointment came shortly before the Indian Supreme Court began hearings for legal recognition of same-sex marriages starting April-end. The apex court had asked the central government to present arguments on "social benefits that the same-sex couples can get even without the legal recognition of marriage," reported Hindustan Times. On May 3, the Centre said that it would form an executive committee to study the concerns of same-sex couples. A five-judge bench headed by Chandrachud set the next date for the hearing on May 9.  

Amid the ongoing hearings, a video attributed to Kirpal has gone viral on social media, alleging that he is dancing to Bollywood music in "objectionable" attire. The video is shared with the text in Hindi claiming, "This is Sourav Kripal, his father was also the Chief Justice of Supreme Court BN Kripal in 2002. This is why this same-sex marriage case is so important to the Supreme Court." There are several sarcastic comments also viral with the post. 

In Fact

Logically Facts reached out to Kirpal, who confirmed that the man in the video was not him. He added, "I didn't include the video in my tweet as I didn't want that person (whom I don't know) to face any problems."

On May 4, Kirpal had also clarified on Twitter that the video was not his. He further wrote: "Mocking anyone this way is disgusting homophobia. Bigots may cloak their hatred behind justifications, but it remains vile. Shame on them."

We were also able to track down the original video shared on an Instagram account on January 8, 2022, captioned: "Finally dancing to one of my most favourite tracks of the season." The account appears to belong to the co-founder of a fashion company, according to their bio.

The Verdict

We have marked the claim as false since Kirpal confimed the man featured in the video is not him. We were also able to independently trace the video to an Instagram account of another person.