Supreme Court seeks response from Centre on plea seeking probe into fake advocates, ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ activities

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central government on a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into fake advocates, fraudulent law degrees and the activities of persons associated with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought the response of the government on a petition filed by lawyer Raja Choudhary.

The petitioner also sought action against alleged commercial exploitation and monetised circulation of oral courtroom observations made during proceedings before the Supreme Court.

The plea arose out of Supreme Court proceedings held on May 15, during which concerns were expressed regarding procedural misuse of courts, conferment of Senior Advocate designation and deterioration of professional standards within the legal profession.

According to the petition, certain metaphorical “cockroach” references used by CJI Kant during spontaneous courtroom exchanges were subsequently selectively clipped, meme-ified, mimicked, commercially circulated, and transformed into viral digital content detached from constitutional and procedural context.

The plea clarified that it is not directed against criticism of the judiciary, democratic dissent, satire or free speech protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Instead, it alleged organised commercial exploitation, trademark-commercialisation, monetised viral circulation, meme-based distortion, and algorithmically amplified digital commodification of oral courtroom proceedings.

"Issue an appropriate writ, order, or direction directing competent authorities to examine and take action in accordance with law against persons/entities allegedly involved in commercial exploitation, trade mark appropriation, monetised circulation, or unauthorised commercial use of oral courtroom observations and symbolic expressions arising from proceedings before the Supreme Court of India, including activities associated with 'Cockroach Janta Party'," the plea said.

The “Cockroach Janta Party” emerged in May this year as a satirical online movement that gained traction across social media platforms, particularly among younger users.

The online movement gained massive popularity, with hundreds of thousands of followers on X and over 22 million followers on Instagram.

The movement was born out of Supreme Court proceedings held on May 15 during which the Bench headed by CJI Surya Kant expressed concerns over unemployed young lawyers drifting away from practice toward social media and RTI activism. CJI Kant said that such "youngsters like cockroaches" were becoming parasites in society.

"There are youngsters like cockroaches who are not getting employment in the profession. Some are on social media, some become RTI activists," the CJI said.

The CJI later clarified that his observations were directed at individuals entering professions through forged qualifications and fake degrees, not unemployed young Indians generally.

The collective was started by Dipke, a resident of Boston, USA. It uses political satire to comment on issues such as unemployment, institutional accountability and media freedom.

The CJP organised a massive protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over leak of NEET and other question papers.

The Union Minister had to eventually resign from office.