Delhi HC issues notice to Centre, X on plea against blocking of Cockroach Janta Party account

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday issued notices to the Union government and social media platform X on a petition filed by Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, challenging the blocking of the party’s X account.The petition was filed after the CJP's X handle that had turned into a viral online phenomenon was suspended by the platform.Hearing the matter, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav allowed Cockroach Janta Party founder Dipke to appear virtually before the review committee. The judge also observed that if the committee finds the blocking unjustified, it has the legal authority to order the restoration of the CJP’s X account.The Delhi high court issued notices to the Centre and Meta-owned X on Dipke’s plea challenging the blocking of the party’s handle and sought their responses. The matter has now been listed for hearing on July 7.“It is directed that before the next date of hearing, let the review committee examine all such aspects. Let the decision be placed on record,” the court said.Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, argued that the CJP account was “pure satire” and said that if some tweets were considered “objectionable”, only those posts should have been blocked instead of suspending the entire account.Seeking interim relief, Dipke’s counsel urged the court to unblock the handle and said the blocking order had still not been provided to the petitioner.Justice Kaurav, however, noted that the blocking order was not yet on record and said the court would consider the request after the Centre files its reply."We will consider. This entire law (on blocking) is still at a nascent stage. Let us not precipitate things today. Let them take notice and come back to us. Whatever material they have, I can direct them to place it," the judge said, adding that the petitioner could meanwhile present his grievance before the review committee.While Sibal cited earlier court orders where only specific offensive posts were withheld instead of entire social media accounts, the court said there “seems to be a slight difference” in the present case."The defence in those cases was that there were some tweets that were found to be offending. In this case, what seems to be the reason is that the entire activity per se perhaps was slightly offending,” the court orally observed.Dipke, who was previously associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, launched the Cockroach Janta Party during the controversy surrounding remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a May 15 hearing related to senior designation for a lawyer.The internet’s newest sensation also faced multiple setbacks earlier, as not only was its X account suspended, but the website offering memberships to join the online campaign was also taken down.Also read: Cockroach Janta Party: A meme trying to get serious - 4 mistakes keeping it in shadowsDays earlier, CJP founder Dipke had lashed out at the BJP-led Centre over the shutdown of his unconventional startup, calling the government “dictatorial.”He further claimed that nearly 10 lakh people had signed up as members, turning the platform into a Gen Z- and millennial-driven hub of sarcasm, satire and meme culture targeting the system.The Cockroach Janta Party emerged as an overnight internet sensation, drawing massive attention from young users across the country after a politically charged online campaign linked to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant's “cockroach” remark.However, CJI Surya Kant later clarified his statement, saying he respected India’s youth after the remark triggered widespread debate on social media.