HC asks review committee to examine unblocking of Cockroach Janta Party’s X handle

Following the digital crackdown, the CJP founder Dipke lashed out at the centre, calling the Narendra Modi-led government "dictatorial."

New Delhi: After the Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke filed a petition challenging the blocking of its social media accounts, the Delhi High Court on Friday, May 29, issued notices to the Union government and social media platform X.

The High Court refused to order the unblocking of the digital outfit’s X account, but asked a review committee under the Information Technology Rules to examine the issue and take a decision before July 7.

Hearing the matter, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav also permitted Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke to appear virtually before the committee, and observed that if the panel is satisfied that blocking must be set aside, it is legally empowered to order unblocking of the CJP’s X account.

The matter was listerd 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.

Pure satire, Dipke’s counsel says

Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, submitted that the CJP account was “pure satire” and if there were some “objectionable” tweets, only those could be blocked instead of withholding the entire account.

Seeking interim unblocking of the handle, the counsel for Dipke urged the judge to peruse the blocking order, which, he said, had not yet been supplied to him.

Justice Kaurav, however, observed that the blocking order was not on record and it would consider the petitioner’s request after the Centre files a reply to the plea as the case has issues carrying “wider ramifications”.

“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 in the meantime, the petitioner could raise his grievance before the review committee.

Even as Sibal argued that the court had earlier passed orders giving relief to certain other blocked social media handles by ordering the withholding of only the offending tweets, the court said there “seems to be a slight difference” between those cases and this one.

“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 said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said allowing the unblocking of the CJP’s handle at this stage itself would amount to allowing his petition.

In the petition, Dipke said the CJP’s account is satire, protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, and if there was any offending content, the authorities could have specifically blocked that instead of taking “disproportionate” action.

Plea argues action is arbitrary, opaque, violative of fundamental rights

The plea asserted that the blocking was in complete violation of the principles of natural justice as well as the procedural safeguards under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act because the authorities acted without prior notice and did not provide any reasons to the petitioner.

The action is, therefore, arbitrary, opaque, and violative of the petitioner’s fundamental rights, the plea added.

The satirical digital outfit’s X handle was withheld in India on May 21 following directions from the Centre and inputs from the Intelligence Bureau that raised “national security concerns.” The outfit had swiftly taken over the internet, turning into a viral online phenomenon with over 22 million followers on Instagram.

Even after its X handle was taken down, it immediately launched another account, “Cockroach is Back,” with the tagline “Cockroaches Don’t Die.”

However, its X handle was not the only social media account that faced setbacks. According to Dipke, his X account and the CJP’s official Instagram page were hacked and the outfit’s backup Instagram account was taken down as well. Within two days of its X handle being withheld, its website was also shut down.

Following the digital crackdown, the CJP founder lashed out at the Centre, calling the Narendra Modi-led government “dictatorial.”

The satirical outfit was born following a controversy over Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant using the terms “parasites” and “cockroaches” while describing the unemployed youth of the country. The CJI later clarified that he was misquoted and his remarks were directed specifically at individuals entering the legal profession through “fake and bogus degrees.”

(With inputs from PTI)