On Thursday, June 4, Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, delivered a lecture on ‘Artificial Intelligence and International Law’ at Birkbeck College in London. However, CJI’s lecture was disrupted by some attendees who started raising questions during the lecture.
These disruptors raised questions on alleged suppression of dissent in India. They also tried to question the Chief Justice on his recent “cockroach” remark.
Now, the Indian High Commission to the UK has called the heckling of the CJI indecorous audience behaviour that was unacceptable and inconsistent with respectful engagement.
The High Commission emphasised that differences of opinion must be expressed in a civil and respectful manner.
— India in the UK (@HCI_London) June 5, 2026
One of the audience members raising these questions asked, “His Lordship made some very important points, I think, about the Indian track record of protecting democracy in the context of AI, We now hear from a number of legal observers within the country as well as internationally that there’s a great deal of concern about growing hostility to dissent within India. And it does seem that this hostility is somewhat reflected in His Lordship’s speech and it’s very well publicised.”
The organisers had swiftly put an end to the heckling saying that the questions being raised are out of the purview of the topic.
Notably, while these people sitting in London are saying that there is no place for dissent in India, the so called Cockroach Janta Party is conducting its protest right in the heart of the Indian capital Delhi.
