Saurav Das, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson, strongly distanced his party from the abusive and derogatory language used by some people during recent demonstrations. Responding to media calls and the widespread public rejection of the slogans and comments that CJP issued during protests, Das said that while bad speech is regrettable, it is not a valid legal basis for law enforcement to arrest people.
Das said in an interview with PTI that the party maintains that any person who feels hurt and aggrieved by derogatory remarks is free to sue the individual responsible for the insults and to pursue civil and criminal defamation. But he strongly opposes direct use of the wider criminal justice machinery against political and student protesters in the present situation, and says no citizen should face criminal charges or state action for speaking rude and offensive words at public unrest.
On the other hand, the CJP spokesperson urged the young demonstrators to show more caution and mindfulness in public rhetoric. Given the emotional intensity in recent protests, Das warned the younger generation to be very careful with vocabulary, insults, and comments to public figures and people in general. He did not shy away from state overreach and said police would not be allowed to use their statutory power for partisan political purposes and called it absolutely unacceptable in a democratic society.
The CJP spokesperson also gave a response to the recent administrative action taken by the Delhi government about the first information reports of party protesters in the early stages of the demonstrations. When the government announced that pending FIRs would no longer be pursued and should be treated as closed, Das expressed disapproval for the legal terminology used in the order. He felt that the administration should have made the case announcement explicitly that the cases would be completely withdrawn and not simply left as closed files and that the party would see everyone in the party clean up their legal file as the political dust settles.
