By Hazel Gandhi
The video of a man dancing to a Bollywood song has been used to misidentify the man as senior advocate and LGBTQIA+ activist Saurabh Kirpal. BOOM found that the video is of a talent agency founder and digital creator Damandeep Singh Chaudhary who routinely posts videos on Instagram of him dancing.
The video shows a man dancing to the song 'Sajna: Say Yes to the Dress' by Badshah and Payal Dev.
The caption mocks Kirpal by misidentifying him and reads, "This is Saurabh Kripal future SC judge. *His father B.N. Kripal* Was the Chief Justice of SC in 2002. *Hence under familyism tradition* For Chief Justice Chandrachud recognition of gay marriage *is crucial*"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also viral on Twitter.
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the man in the video is Damandeep Singh Chaudhary, and not senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal.
A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video on Google led us to a tweet that carried the video along with the name of the Instagram handle, @damandiaries.
We looked for this handle on Instagram and found that it belonged to Damandeep Singh Chaudhary, who regularly uploads videos and pictures of his dance and his work with Bollywood celebrities.
We also found a tweet by Saurabh Kirpal uploaded on May 4 where he clarified that it was not him dancing in the video. In the tweet, he also called out the homophobic nature of the false posts that were going viral.
Saurabh Kirpal has been recommended by the Supreme Court collegium to be elevated as a judge of the Delhi High Court. If this happens, he will become India's first openly gay judge. However, according to the collegium, the centre has turned down his nomination because Kirpal's partner is a Swiss national and because of his openness regarding his sexual orientation. Kirpal was also one of the lawyers whose efforts led to the Supreme Court's landmark decision to decriminalise homosexuality in 2018.
Currently, a five judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is hearing arguments where petitioners, represented by advocates Menaka Guruswamy and Mukul Rohatgi, among others, are seeking marriage equality.
