Satirical online collective Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday moved the Delhi high court to challenge the blocking of the party’s official X account.A man visits the web page of the newly formed Cockroach Janta Party on a laptop in Dharamshala, on May 21 (AP Photo)The petition, filed through advocate Nakul Gandhi, contests the May 21 decision to withhold the account five days after the outfit launched and witnessed an explosive rise on social media.The satirical movement was born after remarks attributed to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a hearing on conferring “senior” designation on lawyers, in which “youngsters” were allegedly referred to as “cockroaches” and “parasites”. The CJI later clarified that he had been misquoted and that his remarks were directed at individuals entering the legal profession with “fake and bogus degrees”, and not the youth.The move to restrict CJP’s X account came at a time when the online collective had emerged as one of the country’s fastest-growing online trends. Its Instagram account has crossed 22.9 million followers, surpassing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s official Instagram page. Thousands of users have also signed up through online membership forms floated by the group. Hours after being blocked, they appeared to come back under another handle called “Cockroach is back”, posting, “You thought you can get rid of us? Lol.”Under X’s content policy, the platform can restrict accounts in specific countries if it receives a valid legal request from authorised agencies or if content violates local laws.Dipke’s petition to restore CJP’s X handle came days after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against them, accusing the group and those involved with it of exploiting the top court’s observations in a recent case. The petition said the formation of the outfit amounted to “sensational dissemination” of the court’s May 15 observation.A request for an out-of-turn hearing of a petition that sought action against the CJP was declined by a three-judge bench headed by the CJI. “There is no grave urgency. We will consider it in due course of time,” the bench told a lawyer who appeared on behalf of the petitioner.Opposition leaders have said the campaign’s popularity reflected rising frustration among unemployed youth and accused the government of failing to address concerns about jobs and inflation. Some Congress and Left-leaning social media handles also shared memes and posts linked to the campaign, describing it as a “digital protest” against the political establishment.