Friday, June 5, 2026

Delhi High Court declines interim relief for restoration of suspended social media account of Cockroach Janta Party on X, case to be heard on July 6

In Save India Foundation (Regd.) vs. Union of India & Ors. (2026), Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav of Delhi High Court declined to grant immediate interim relief for the restoration of the suspended social media account of the satirical political outfit Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on the platform X. Justice Kaurav issued notice to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and X Corp, observing that the challenges raised concerning freedom of speech on digital platforms. The case is listed for further arguments on July 6, 2026. 

The administrative blocking was issued under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read alongside the IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. 

Justice Kaurav observed: "The issues presented before this court carry structural complexities that affect public order and state scrutiny. Preliminary evaluations of the administrative background reveal that the overarching digital operations in question cannot be summarily classified as benign humor. Because the state records indicate a potential threat to institutional equilibrium, no mandatory ad-interim directions can be safely structured without analyzing the counter-affidavits of the respondents." 

 The High Court directed the statutory Review Committee—mandated under Rule 14 of the 2009 IT Blocking Rules—to re-examine the validity of MeitY's blocking order. 

The Union of India was granted four weeks to file its detailed counter-affidavit providing the confidential intelligence inputs that necessitated the digital restriction. 



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