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

The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to immediately order the restoration of the X account of satirical digital collective Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), but directed the review committee constituted under the Information Technology Rules to examine the blocking of the handle and take a decision before July 7.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav permitted CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke to appear virtually before the review committee and observed that the panel possesses the legal authority to direct the unblocking of the account if it concludes that the blocking order deserves to be set aside.

Issuing notices to the Centre and X, formerly Twitter, on Dipke’s plea challenging the blocking of the CJP handle by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Court sought their responses and listed the matter for further 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 observed.

Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, argued that the Cockroach Janta Party account functioned as a satirical platform protected under the constitutional guarantee of free speech under Article 19(1)(a). He submitted that if certain posts were considered objectionable, authorities could have restricted only those specific tweets instead of withholding the entire account.

Seeking interim relief, Sibal urged the Court to direct immediate restoration of the handle and submitted that the blocking order had not even been supplied to the petitioner.

Justice Kaurav, however, noted that the blocking order was not presently available on record and observed that the matter involved questions carrying “wider ramifications.” The Court said it would consider the petitioner’s request after the Centre files its response.

“This entire law on blocking is still at a nascent stage. Let us not precipitate things today,” the Court orally observed, while adding that the petitioner may place his grievances before the review committee in the meantime.

During the hearing, Sibal referred to earlier judicial orders where courts had directed authorities to withhold only specific offending content rather than blocking entire social media accounts. The Court, however, orally observed that the present case appeared “slightly different.”

“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 judge remarked.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the plea for interim restoration and argued that unblocking the account at this stage would effectively amount to granting the final relief sought in the petition itself.

In his petition, Dipke contended that the blocking action violated principles of natural justice and procedural safeguards under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The plea alleged that the authorities acted without prior notice and failed to furnish reasons for the blocking order.

The petition further described the action as arbitrary, opaque, and violative of the petitioner’s fundamental rights.

Dipke, who was previously associated with the Aam Aadmi Party, launched the Cockroach Janta Party amid controversy surrounding remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a hearing on May 15 concerning senior designation for advocates.

On May 16, however, the Chief Justice issued a clarification stating that his remarks had been misrepresented and were directed specifically at individuals entering the legal profession using “fake and bogus degrees.”

The original X handle of the Cockroach Janta Party was withheld in India on May 21. The group later resurfaced through a new handle titled “Cockroach is Back,” which has reportedly amassed more than 2.27 lakh followers.

The movement has attracted attention for its unconventional symbolism and digital mobilisation strategy, with supporters describing the “cockroach” identity as a form of protest against institutional failures.

Launched on May 16, the Cockroach Janta Party claims to be an independent youth-driven movement focused on amplifying concerns of young people and demanding accountability from the government.

The group recently initiated a campaign seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged systemic failures in the education sector and the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy.