The Supreme Court on Monday refused an urgent hearing of a plea for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Cockroach Janta Party, the satirical social media movement born out of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant's recent remarks comparing some unemployed youth to 'cockroaches'.
The plea was filed seeking a CBI inquiry into the activities of persons associated with the movement. It also sought a probe into “fake advocates and law degrees” of persons associated with the movement, according to Bar and Bench.
However, to the petitioner’s claim that the movement was tarnishing the image of the judiciary, a Bench of CJI Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and VM Pancholi said: “Don't take it so sentimentally."
With regard to the petitioner’s lawyer seeking action against alleged commercial exploitation and monetised circulation of oral courtroom observations made during recent proceedings before the Supreme Court, CJI Surya Kant said: "There is no such grave urgency. We will see."
The Cockroach Janta Party was born out of CJI Surya Kant’s remarks during a hearing of a petition filed by a lawyer seeking designation as a senior advocate. The CJI, while criticising the individual for pursuing senior advocate designation aggressively, remarked: "There are already parasites of society who attack the system, and you want to join hands with them? There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in a profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists, and they start attacking everyone."
The CJI later said he was misquoted and that his observations were directed at individuals entering professions through forged qualifications and fake degrees, not unemployed young Indians generally.