Advocate Saurabh Kirpal dancing on a beach? Unrelated video viral with false claims to attack activist-lawyer

A video of a man dancing on a beach is being circulated with the claim that he is senior advocate and LGBTQIA+ rights activist Saurabh Kirpal, son of former Chief Justice of India (CJI) B N Kirpal.

Some users directly named the lawyer as the man featured in the video, which they said, had been shot while he was on a vacation with his partner in Spain. Some others said that the man in the clip was the son of Supreme Court Judge ‘Kirpal Singh’ and that present CJI D Y Chandrachud had been hell-bent on getting homosexuality legally recognized so that he (Kirpal Singh’s son) can become a Supreme Court judge.

Facebook user Hemsagar Desai shared the above-mentioned video on June 9 with a caption in Hindi that can be translated as: “This is Justice Saurabh Kirpal, son of Justice of B N Kirpal, who has been holidaying in Spain with his husband and for whose appointment as a Delhi High Court Judge the collegium has sent recommendation twice. And according to the rules, if the central government refuses to accept the collegium recommendation twice, the collegium can appoint him a judge by special power.” He further makes a homophobic comment against the senior advocate and questions what justice someone like him can provide. The post has been reshared 275 times.

The user also attached a screenshot of a report by BBC Hindi which said that the collegium had recommended the appointment of advocate Kirpal as a Delhi High Court judge and India could get its first gay judge.

Such claims are also viral on Twitter. A user named त्रिशूल अचूक 🇮🇳 (@TriShool_Achuk) tweeted a photo of Advocate Saurabh Kirpal on April 28 and wrote: “Bhupendra Nath Kirpal was the 31st Chief Justice of India from May 6, 2002, till he retired on November 7, 2002.” He then mentions that Saurabh Kirpal is the son of the former CJI and makes a derogatory comment about the advocate’s gender. Quote-tweeting his own tweet on June 9, he shared the viral video and asked his audience to look carefully that the man dancing in the video was the same man. He also made derogatory comments against the apex court, the CJI and Advocate Kirpal. (Archive 1, 2)

जरा ध्यान से देखिए!!
कहीं ये वही माननीय मियाँ लांड्र तो नहीं जिनके लिए सुप्रिम कोठे के moon powder ने सारे सामाजिक नियम बदल कर रख दिए….
अरे ग़ज़ब का मीठा है पाठ शाला….#अमोघ09062023
इनको देख के आपराधि बार बार अपराध करने के लिए प्रेरित होता होगा….. https://t.co/eeGy3PzXAT pic.twitter.com/pr4tD0yFE2

— त्रिशूल अचूक 🇮🇳 (@TriShool_Achuk) June 9, 2023

Twitter Blue user Hasna Zaroori Hai 🇮🇳 (@HasnaZarooriHai) also shared the same video on June 9 with a similar caption. He later deleted his tweet.

Rohan Dua, journalist and the executive editor of The New Indian, reshared @HasnaZarooriHai’s tweet with the following caption: “Party planners for some judges & lawyers hit beaches for a summer bash before the Supreme Court is to give verdict on the same-sex marriage in India👇 ” (Archive 1, 2)

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Several other users including The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) and Neeraj Atri
(@AtriNeeraj) — who quote tweeted a now-deleted tweet by the मातृ भूमि 🚩 (@Matru_Bhoomi), Ganesh Suthar (@GaneshS38500793), vijay shukla (@vijaysh86492406), shared the video with similar claims.

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Fact Check

Last month, another video featuring the same man was shared with the claim that it was Saurabh Kirpal. Alt News had debunked the claim and shown that the man in the video was Damandeep Singh Chaudhary, a digital creator and co-founder of the talent agency, Runway Lifestyle.

Back then, the senior advocate also tweeted about the same clarifying that the man in the video was not him and condemned the objectionable claims.

To confirm that this video also was of the same man, we checked Damandeep’s Instagram profile (@damandiaries). We found the post with the same video. The post has been made on June 3. The user has pinned the post to his profile so that it appears on top.

View this post on Instagram

Therefore, the video of the man dancing on a beach is not of senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, it is of Damandeep Singh Chaudhary.

It is pertinent to note that there has been an increase in online trolling directed towards advocate Saurabh Kirpal, most of which are about him being queer, ever since the collegium recommended his appointment as a Delhi High Court judge. The Centre subsequently requested the collegium to reconsider its decision. According to reports, the government’s objections were based on the fact that Kirpal’s partner was a Swiss national, who according to an intelligence report, could pose a security risk.

Lately, CJI D Y Chandrachud has also been subjected to online trolling. Even in the viral posts, it can be seen that both the senior advocate and the CJI are being targeted.