The Supreme Court on Monday declined an urgent hearing on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the activities of people linked to the so-called Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), saying there was no immediate emergency in the matter.
The issue came up before a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, after advocate N.K. Goswami argued that CJP was damaging the image of the judiciary. The bench responded by advising restraint and said the matter should not be taken so emotionally.
The controversy around CJP surfaced after the Chief Justice’s recent “cockroach” remark, which triggered the emergence of the social media group. The party has since gained rapid online traction, with its Instagram followers reportedly crossing 2.29 crore by Monday afternoon.
The petitioner, advocate Raja Chaudhary, has also sought a probe into alleged fake advocates and fake law degrees linked to the movement. He has further demanded action over the commercial use of oral remarks made during recent Supreme Court proceedings. However, the bench indicated that it did not see a grave enough emergency to intervene immediately.
Meanwhile, the founder of CJP, Abhijit Dipke, has approached the Delhi High Court against the blocking of the party’s X account. The original account had more than 1.93 lakh followers before it was blocked on May 21. A new account, titled “Cockroach Is Back,” was later created, and it had 2.27 lakh followers by Monday afternoon.
Security has also been tightened around Dipke’s residence in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, where police have been posted round the clock as a precautionary measure. Police said the deployment was made to avoid crowd gathering amid the online attention surrounding the issue, though no official threat had been received.
Dipke also said on May 24 that the group’s website had been shut down. When accessed, the site continues to display the message that it cannot be reached. According to his claim, the website had nearly 10 lakh registrations, including signatures on a petition seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.