Delhi HC orders unblocking of Cockroach Janta Party’s X account

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered that the X account of political campaign Cockroach Janta Party be unblocked, Bar and Bench reported.

The order came after the Union government said that it had no objections to the account being unblocked.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was quoted as saying that the account had been blocked in view of the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. The re-exam for medical college seats was held on June 21.

Mehta said that posts on the platform “would have created chaos among students and parents”, Bar and Bench reported.

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, said on Tuesday that the court’s order was a “big win” not only for the political campaign, but also for “free speech and digital rights”.

The account had been blocked on May 21 “in response to a legal demand”. Hours later, Dipke had opened a new X account.

Dipke had challenged the government’s blocking order, which reportedly cited “national security concerns”.

The campaign was launched on May 16 in response to reports of remarks by Chief Justice Surya Kant on the previous day comparing some unemployed youngsters to “cockroaches”. Within a week, the campaign had garnered more than 22 million followers on social media platform Instagram.

The chief justice claimed on May 16 that he had been misquoted by sections of the media and that it was baseless to say that he criticised young people in general. Kant claimed he had specifically criticised “those who have entered professions like the Bar [legal profession] with the aid of fake and bogus degrees”.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

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