New Delhi: In a major setback for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the Delhi High Court on Friday declined to immediately restore the virtual outfit's X account.
The court found some content posted on the social media account to be “slightly offensive” and refused to grant immediate relief on the plea by founder Abhijeet Dipke, reported Hindustan Times. The X handle was blocked on national security grounds.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said such relief can only be granted after hearing the government, as the issue has far-reaching consequences. It issued notice to the central government. The next hearing will take place on July 6.
Advocate Akhil Sibal, son of Kapil Sibal, represented Abhijeet Dipke. He urged the court to restore the CJP’s X account, while stating that he had no objection if certain posts flagged as allegedly offensive continued to remain withheld.
Sibal, in his argument, mentioned previous such cases in which the court granted interim relief. “There seems to be a slight difference between other cases and in this case… In this case what seems to be the reason is that the entire activity is per se slightly offending,” the bench said in response, according to a Bar and Bench report.
The court said Dipke could approach the review committee constituted under the IT Rules through video conferencing, as he is currently abroad.
The original X handle of the CJP was withheld in India on May 21, after which the outfit resurfaced with a new handle, ‘Cockroach is Back’.
CJP was launched on May 16 and claims that it wants to build an independent youth-driven movement to amplify the concerns of the youth and hold the government accountable.
