BJP functionary moves Allahabad HC for probe against Cockroach Janta Party, extradition of founder Abhijeet Dipke

The Allahabad High Court will hear on Tuesday a petition seeking a multi-agency probe against Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and the extradition of its founder Abhijeet Dipke from United States of America to India.

The public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker S Vignesh Shishir is listed before a Bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary.

The Cockroach Janta Party emerged last month as a satirical movement among young users across social media platforms. The Union government, however, has made X Corp take down its Twitter account citing security concerns.

Now, Shishir has sought directions for the blocking of all social media handles of the CJP and Dipke across different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal.

His plea also seeks the removal of posts, videos, reels and other content originating from or associated with Dipke and CJP that misuse, distort, or misrepresent observations of the Supreme Court.

The CJP movement was born out of the Supreme Court proceedings held on May 15 during which CJI Surya Kant expressed concerns over unemployed youth drifting away toward social media and RTI activism.

CJI Kant, in his oral comments, said that such youngsters "like cockroaches" were becoming parasites in society. CJI Kant later clarified that he was referring to those with fake degrees who engage in such activities.

In his petition before the High Court, Shishir has urged the Court to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) comprising senior officers of intelligence and investigative agencies under the supervision of Ministry of Home Affairs to probe the alleged “foreign-funded information warfare campaign” orchestrated by the CJP and its founder Dipke.

The PIL seeks the registration of criminal cases against Dipke and others by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The plea also seeks the issuance of a Look-Out Circular against Dipke and the initiation of extradition proceedings against him to ensure his return to India from the United States.

Shishir has alleged that CJP is a foreign deep State funded organization operating against the sovereignty, integrity and security of India. He has also claimed that former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appears to be the main “invisible hand” behind the online movement.

“It is crystal clear that Sri Abhijit Dipke is giving a 'target'/task to his followers/youth of India to trigger mass movement against the Government of India and Judicial Institutions which is directly amounting to waging a war against the country,” the plea argues.

Shishir, who hails from Karnataka, had earlier filed petitions before the Allahabad High Court questioning Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's citizenship.

He had also filed a petition alleging Rahul Gandhi possesses disproportionate assets allegedly beyond his known sources of income.