The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Deepke challenging the government’s decision to block the party’s X handle in India.
The petition challenges the Centre’s order directing the suspension of the social media account on grounds of national security. According to the plea, the X account of the party was withheld in India following government directions.
The court declined to order immediate restoration of the X account of satirical digital outfit, while directing a review committee under the Information Technology Rules to examine the matter and place its decision on record before July 7.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notices to the Centre and X, formerly Twitter, on a petition filed by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke challenging the blocking of the organisation’s account.
The court sought responses from both parties and listed the matter 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.
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Virtual Appearance Allowed Before Review Committee
The High Court also permitted Dipke to appear virtually before the review committee and observed that if the panel found merit in the grievance, it was legally empowered to direct unblocking of the account.
Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, argued that the CJP account was intended purely as satire and contended that even if certain posts were objectionable, authorities could have withheld only those specific posts rather than blocking the entire handle.
Seeking interim relief, Sibal urged the court to direct immediate restoration of the account and requested access to the blocking order, which he said had not been supplied to the petitioner.
Justice Kaurav, however, observed that the blocking order was not currently on record and said the court would consider the petitioner’s request after the Centre filed its response.
“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,” the judge observed.
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Court Notes Distinction From Earlier Cases
During the hearing, Sibal referred to previous court orders in which only specific allegedly offending posts were withheld while the broader social media accounts remained accessible.
The court, however, orally observed that the present case appeared to be 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 court remarked.
Background Of The Controversy
Abhijeet Dipke, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 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 a lawyer.
The original X handle of the CJP was withheld in India on May 21, after which the group launched a new handle titled “Cockroach is Back", which currently has more than 2,27,000 followers.
The outfit describes itself as a youth-driven movement focused on raising issues related to education and governance.
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