On Friday, May 29, the Delhi High Court declined issuing an order to immediately restore X account of the meme account Cockroach Janta Party. The court observed that the content of the page is slightly offensive.
The order has come as a setback for the meme page’s creator Abhijeet Dipke, a former functionary of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The court found some content posted on the social media page of the ‘party’ to be “slightly offensive”, and refused to grant immediate relief. The court also assured the government’s counsel that they will pass an order only after hearing the government and social media platform X’s side of things.
Reacting to Dipke’s counsel Akhil Sibal’s argument that previously the court had given interim relief in such cases, the bench led by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said, “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.”
Justice Kaurav also remarked, “There may be some substance in your submissions but they all need to be considered. They will be considered holistically after hearing the other side. There are far reaching issues. There are wider ramification.”
The Court also ordered a review of the blocking order against the Cockroach Janta Party and said that the review committee is empowered to review all aspects of the blocking order.
