Judgments ref lect individual judges' views, says collegium-choice Kirpal

JAIPUR: People misunderstand exactly how dependent judgments of laws are on the views of individual justices, senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal said at an event here on

Monday. "There are 34 judges of the Supreme Court; there are 15 benches sitting at any point of time, between two judges and three judges, and we who practise in that court

often laugh and say that there is not one Supreme Court of India; there are 15 Supreme Courts of India," he said. The SC Collegium, led by CJI D Y Chandrachud, had recently

reiterated its November 11, 2021 recommendation for appointing Kirpal as a Delhi HC judge, rejecting suggestions that his "ardent involvement" in gay right issues could result in

possible "bias and prejudice". READ ALSO: Do not shoot off my shoulder, have a mature debate on collegium: Ex-judge "Depending on where your matter goes, who those

two judges are, the outcome can be completely, radically different. Some judges will have a very conservative mindset, some will have a liberal mindset, some are inherently

anti-government, and some are inherently pro-government. This is not party political, this is not an ideological belief that government is right or wrong, this is just their

view." Citing the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India as an example, senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal said the same apex court that had dismissed a petition against

Section 377 of the IPC in 2013 later delivered a landmark judgment on the subject.