Delhi HC orders restoration of Cockroach Janta Party's X Account, notes Centre's concern no longer survives after NEET
New Delhi, July 7
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed restoration of the X account of the Cockroach Janta Party, noting that the primary concern cited by the Union Government for blocking the account no longer survived as the NEET examination had concluded.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma allowed the petition filed by Abhijeet Dipke challenging the blocking of the party's X account and ordered that the account be unblocked.
The Court observed that the Centre's principal apprehension, which had formed the basis of the blocking action, was linked to the conduct of the NEET examination. Since the examination was now over, the Court held that the concern was no longer relevant and directed the restoration of the account.
Dipke had approached the High Court challenging the blocking of the Cockroach Janta Party's X account and sought its immediate restoration.
The order comes after the matter was earlier heard by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, who had declined to grant interim relief and had directed the statutory Review Committee under the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, to examine the petitioner's grievances while calling for the Centre's response.
At the earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Dipke, had argued that even if certain posts were found objectionable, those posts could remain blocked while the account itself should be restored. He had also sought production of the blocking order and submitted that courts had adopted similar approaches in earlier cases involving social media accounts.
The Union Government had opposed the plea, citing concerns arising from the account's activities.
Allowing the petition, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that the primary concern relied upon by the Centre had ceased to exist after completion of the NEET examination and accordingly directed that the Cockroach Janta Party's X account be unblocked.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Finally some common sense prevails! The government was dragging this unnecessarily. If someone posts something objectionable, block that post, not the entire account. Simple logic.
Wait, people actually vote for a party called "Cockroach Janta Party"? 😂 That's the real headline here! But jokes aside, court's decision is fair. NEET is done, let the account be restored.
Good judgment. But why did they block it in the first place? The government should be more transparent about such orders. This sets a good precedent for protecting free speech online.
I understand the government's concern during exams to prevent cheating, but once NEET was over, there was no reason to continue blocking. The HC was right to intervene. Our courts are doing their job well.
Honestly, this whole episode shows how silly our system can be. Blocking a political party's account over an exam? And then taking months to restore it after the exam is over? Time to fix IT rules.
So basically the government blocked an account based on a temporary concern, and the court said "arre bhai ab toh exam ho gaya, kyun rok rahe ho?" Makes perfect sense. 😊
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