Blocking Of X Handle Cockroach Janta Party Founder Moves Delhi High Court

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the satirical online platform ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ or CJP, has moved the Delhi High Court against the blocking of the CJP’s X handle. qThe case is likely to be heard this week. As first... As first reported by The Indian Express, the X handle was withheld in India on May 21 after a direction from the Centre following inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that raised “national security concerns”. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked X to withhold the account under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. This provision allows the central government to restrict public access to information in the interest of sovereignty, security, public order, or preventing incitement to offences. The account remains accessible from locations outside India. Dipke (30), who is based in Boston, United States, had told The Indian Express that he has been receiving constant threats, and is worried about his family in India. “I do not want anything to happen to my family because this is a choice I made, not them,” Dipke had told this paper. The satirical account was launched in response to a remark by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant about those who “attack the system”. Pulling up a lawyer who had filed a petition seeking directions to the Delhi High Court over the designation of a Senior Advocate, a status he himself was aspiring to, the CJI had said: “There are already parasites of society who attack the system, and you want to join hands with them? There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in (the) profession…” The remarks triggered an uproar, following which the CJI said it was “totally baseless” to suggest that he had criticised the youth. “What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticised the youth of our nation. Not only am I proud of our present and future human resource, but every youth of India inspires me,” he said. Dipke had criticised the CJI’s remark in a post on X. The next day, he had announced a platform for all “cockroaches” and shared a link to an online “membership form”, which had sparked a social media trend. Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil