The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to immediately order the unblocking of satirical digital outfit Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) X account and instead directed a review committee under the IT Rules to examine the matter and place its decision on record before the next hearing on July 7.
Hearing a plea filed by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke against the blocking of the account in India, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav observed that the review committee was empowered to examine all aspects of the case and could order restoration of the account if it found the blocking directions unsustainable.
“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.
The court also permitted Dipke to appear virtually before the review committee and authorised him to send a representative.
“Rule 14 clearly empowers the review committee to examine all aspects which are sought to be put forth by the petitioner. If the review committee is satisfied that the directions are required to be set aside, an appropriate order for unlocking of the said order can be passed,” the court recorded.
Issuing notices to the Centre and X, formerly Twitter, the court sought their responses within two weeks and listed the matter for hearing on July 7.
Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, argued that the CJP account was “pure satire” and submitted that even if certain posts were considered objectionable, only those tweets should be withheld instead of blocking the entire account.
Seeking interim relief, Sibal urged the court to order immediate restoration of the handle and pointed out that in earlier cases courts had allowed accounts to be restored while directing only offending posts to remain blocked.
Justice Kaurav, however, declined to pass interim directions at this stage.
"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.
The court further orally observed that the present case appeared different from previous matters involving isolated tweets.
"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.
Justice Kaurav also remarked, “In those cases and this case, there seems to be a slight difference… In those cases, some tweets were found to be offending. In this case, it seems that the entire activity per se perhaps is slightly offending. Therefore, we have to draw a distinction between a particular tweet and the entire account.”
Sibal told the court that Dipke had not been supplied with the blocking order due to confidentiality claims by the authorities.
“Confidentiality can’t be from the person who is affected, against whom the blocking order is there… for example, arbitration is also confidential, but not from the parties involved,” Sibal argued.
While X Corp’s counsel Ankit Parahar informed the court that the platform possessed the blocking order and could furnish it for judicial perusal, the court did not examine the issue at this stage.
Addressing Sibal, Justice Kaurav observed, “There may be substance in your submissions, I’m not saying no, this is a far-reaching issue, let them take notice.”
Dipke had challenged the blocking of the CJP handle after the Centre directed X to withhold the account in India on May 21 under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following inputs from the Intelligence Bureau citing “national security concerns”.
The provision empowers the government to restrict public access to information in the interest of sovereignty, security, public order, or preventing incitement to offences.
The original CJP account was blocked in India on May 21, after which the group launched a new handle, ‘Cockroach is Back’, which currently has over 2,27,000 followers. The account remains accessible outside India.
Dipke, a former Aam Aadmi Party associate currently based in Boston, launched the satirical movement after remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a hearing on May 15.
During the hearing, the CJI had remarked: “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 controversy, prompting the CJI to later issue a clarification stating that he was “pained” by reports suggesting he had criticised the youth and asserting that the comments were aimed at individuals entering the legal profession through “fake and bogus degrees”.