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

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to order unblocking of satirical digital outfit Cockroach Janta Party's X account at this stage but asked a review committee under the IT 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.

Issuing notices to the Centre and X, formerly Twitter, on Dipke's petition against the blocking of the CJP's handle, the judge sought their responses 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.

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.

"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.

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.

Dipke, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), launched the CJP amid a controversy over remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on "cockroaches" and "parasites" during a hearing on May 15 on a plea concerning the senior designation for a lawyer.

On May 16, the CJI, however, issued a strongly worded clarification of his remarks, saying he was "pained" by media reports suggesting he had criticised the youth.

The CJI emphasised that his remarks were specifically directed at individuals entering the legal profession through "fake and bogus degrees" and were "misquoted by a section of the media".

The original X handle of the CJP was withheld in India on May 21, following which the group resurfaced with a new handle, 'Cockroach is Back', which presently has over 2,27,000 followers.

The movement has drawn attention for its unconventional symbolism and digital mobilisation strategy, with supporters describing the "cockroach" identity as a form of protest.

Launched on May 16, the CJP claims that it wants to build an independent youth-driven movement to amplify the concerns of the youth and hold the government accountable.

It recently launched a campaign demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged systemic failures in the education sector and the NEET-UG 2026 paper “leak”.