Signing you in

The Delhi high court on Friday declined to immediately direct restoration of the ‘X’ account of satirical online collective Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), observing that the content on the page appeared “slightly offensive”.

Youths aligned with the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ at a protest rally in Thane on May 25. (Praful Gangurde/ HT Photo)A bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav refused to grant interim relief while hearing a petition filed by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, saying the matter required “holistic consideration” and that any order would be passed only after hearing the Centre and X.

The court noted that in previous cases it had ordered restoration of accounts while directing temporary blocking of allegedly offending posts. However, in the present matter, after viewing the communication issued by social media platform ‘X’ to Dipke, the bench observed that the “entire activity per se is perhaps slightly offending”.

The court, however, issued notice on the petition and directed the Centre and X to file a “comprehensive affidavit”. It also granted Dipke liberty to present his case before the Centre’s review committee under Rule 14 of the 2009 Blocking Rules, which examines blocking orders.

Further, the court directed the review committee to decide on the blocking of the account and place its decision before the court on the next date of hearing on July 6.

“Mr Sibal, in all those matters, we normally pass the interim order or the final order after hearing the other side. There seems to be a slight difference in this case and that case. In this case the entire activity per se is perhaps slightly offending. In your submissions, this requires to be considered holistically. I am not saying no. We will hear the other side. These are far-reaching issues and wider,” the court observed.

The observation came after Dipke’s counsel, Akhil Sibal, along with advocate Nakul Gandhi, urged the court to order restoration of the account while permitting allegedly offending posts to remain temporarily blocked. Sibal argued that similar interim relief had been granted in five comparable cases earlier.

The Centre’s lawyer, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, along with additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma and standing counsel Avshreya Rudy, opposed the interim relief, saying such an order would effectively allow the petition at the interim stage itself.

The outfit emerged amid controversy surrounding remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a hearing on conferring “senior” designation on lawyers, in which “youngsters” were allegedly referred to as “cockroaches” and “parasites”. The CJI later clarified that his remarks had been misquoted and were directed at individuals entering the legal profession with “fake and bogus degrees”.

Five days after its launch and rapid rise on social media, CJP’s account on X was withheld. Users attempting to access the handle ‘@CJP_2029’ encountered a notice stating that the account had been “withheld in India in response to a legal demand”. Dipke later shared a screenshot of the notice online, describing the move as “expected”.

The blocking came at a time when CJP had emerged as one of the country’s fastest-growing online trends. Hours later, the group resurfaced under a new handle, “Cockroach is back”, posting: “You thought you could get rid of us? Lol.”

The controversy also triggered political reactions, with several opposition leaders amplifying the campaign online. Trinamool Congress leaders Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad publicly engaged with the movement and shared its posts.

Leaders from opposition parties said the campaign’s popularity reflected growing frustration among unemployed youth and accused the government of failing to address concerns over jobs and inflation. Several Congress and Left-leaning social media handles also described the campaign as a “digital protest” against the political establishment.