NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, Bar Council of India and CBI on a plea seeking a probe into alleged fake advocates, fraudulent law degrees and activities linked to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of the petition filed by advocate Raja Choudhary, who appeared in person. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has also been made a respondent.
The CJP was formed following a “cockroach” remark made by CJI Surya Kant during a hearing in May and later led a Gen-Z protest against the NEET-UG paper leak.
The plea also raised concerns over the alleged commercial exploitation and unauthorised use of oral observations made during judicial proceedings. It claimed that portions of the May 15 hearing were selectively edited and circulated as memes, videos, mimicry, political branding and other monetised content.
The lawyer submitted that the matter warranted deeper investigation into how the word "cockroach", used by the CJI in an entirely different judicial context, was selectively picked, edited and commercially exploited in a manner to undermine judicial dignity and hurt institutional integrity.
The plea sought a direction to authorities "to examine and take action in accordance with law against persons/entities allegedly involved in commercial exploitation, trademark appropriation, monetised circulation, or unauthorised commercial use of oral courtroom observations/metaphors, including activities of CJP, while recognising that fair criticism, democratic dissent, satire, and free speech remain permissible within the constitutional framework without undermining institutional dignity".
The plea referred to the context in which the CJI-led bench made the remarks on May 15.
While hearing another plea filed by one Sanjay Dubey, the CJI had made the "cockroach" remark in the specific context of fake advocates, as he expressed "concerns regarding misuse of court process, deterioration of professional standards and how it impacted the institution itself", the plea said.
The fresh plea said there has been a quantum increase in clips of selectively edited judicial proceedings after May 15.
The distorted versions and the observations made during the proceedings have turned into memes and are circulated on social media for financial gains, the plea said.
