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Chief Justice of India Surya Kant/Naveen Sharma/ANI Photo
Voicing concern over the circulation of clips of court proceedings on social media without adequate context, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said that his oral remarks were "misquoted" and misused with "malicious intent" to mislead the youth of the country.
On May 15, 2026, the CJI, while hearing a case in the Supreme Court, had compared certain individuals with fraudulent degrees to "cockroaches" who become social media or RTI activists to attack the system.
The CJI's comment sparked widespread youth backlash, inspiring the satirical online movement "Cockroach Janta Party" (CJP).
In an interview with DD News, the CJI said clips of court proceedings are being circulated nowadays on social media without adequate context.
CJI Kant said whatever happened was truly unfortunate and clarified that he could never imagine such things regarding the people involved.
"My comment was misquoted and misused. What was not said is presented as though it was said. This is extremely unfortunate. Particularly, it is a major malicious attempt to mislead the youth of the country," the CJI said.
Asking the media to report responsibly on judicial proceedings, the CJI said every citizen has a duty to maintain harmony in society. -- PTI
