Delhi High Court delays X account unblocking, sets review

The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to order the immediate restoration of the X account belonging to the satirical digital outfit Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The court instead directed a government review committee to examine the blocking order and scheduled a further hearing for July 7.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notices to the Union government and X, seeking their formal responses to a petition filed by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke. The court granted the government four weeks to file its reply. While denying interim relief, the judge directed a review committee constituted under the Information Technology Rules to examine Dipke’s grievance and place its decision on record before the next court date.

The CJP’s original X account was blocked in India on May 21. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal, representing Dipke, argued that the account was purely satirical. He contended that if specific posts were objectionable, only those should be withheld rather than the entire account. Sibal also requested that the blocking order, which he stated had not been provided to the petitioner, be placed on record.

The court observed that the legal framework...