The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday (June 2) refused to entertain a PIL requesting an investigation into the alleged ‘anti-national activities’ of the Cockroach Janata Party and the use of social media platforms to instigate the youth.
After the court raised questions on territorial jurisdiction, the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the petition. Justice Shekhar B. A vacation bench of Justice Saraf and Justice AK Choudhary asked S. This order was passed on the criminal public interest litigation filed by Vignesh Shishir.
Allegations of anti-national activities
The petitioner had accused Abhijeet Deepke, a Pune resident living in the US, of setting up an unregistered organization named ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP), which is allegedly involved in anti-national activities through foreign funding.
In the petition, a request was made to conduct a comprehensive investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The petitioner argued in the court
The petitioner also alleged that several social media accounts operating on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram and X are being used to influence and instigate the youth of the country. He had also requested to direct the Central Government to immediately block or close such accounts.
During the hearing, the bench underlined that the petitioner has declared himself to be a permanent resident of Bengaluru in the petition and the attached affidavit. The court remarked that this matter is of national importance and the petitioner should have first filed the petition in the Karnataka High Court.
The bench underlined that the petition does not mention any specific reason arising under Uttar Pradesh. The court also recorded that the petitioner had appeared before the court earlier and had identified himself as a resident of Bengaluru and had sought certain concessions on that basis.
After the High Court indicated that the petition Lucknow Not maintainable before the bench, the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the petition with liberty to file the petition in the competent court. Accepting the request, the bench disposed of the PIL and granted liberty to the petitioner to file a fresh petition in the appropriate court.