Chief Justice of India Surya Kant clarified that his “cockroach” remarks were aimed only at lawyers who entered the profession using fake degrees, not the country’s youth. “It was about the lawyers who have entered profession through backdoor,” he reiterated.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant reiterated that his remarks about cockroaches, made during a Supreme Court hearing in May this year, were directed only at those who had entered the legal profession using fake degrees, and not at the youth of the country, for whom he said he holds great respect.
Speaking to media, the Chief Justice explained that the problem of fake law degree holders was not one he had raised for the first time, but one that had earlier been flagged by the Bar Council of India itself, and that it was against that backdrop that his comments were made.
He said,
‘It was about the lawyers who have entered profession through backdoor’
Setting out the context in which the observation was made, the Chief Justice said,
“It was about the lawyers who have entered profession through backdoor based on mostly fake degrees. Issue was about fake law degrees and how to clean up. It was in that context that I commented.”
Rejecting the suggestion that his words carried any wider reflection on young people, the Chief Justice spoke of the reception he receives from the youth in the course of his travels, saying that many come forward to meet him and that,
“I am drawing my force from the youth of the country.”
The Chief Justice went on to emphasise that the Court remains accessible to every citizen, and that legitimate grievances would be addressed within the bounds of the Constitution and the law. He said the Supreme Court’s doors are always open to every citizen and that “whatever in terms of constitutional principles or law of the land allows, will redress the grievance.”
Extending that assurance specifically to young people, in what reads as an address to the very constituency the controversy had come to concern, he added,
“If the country’s youth has any grievance which they want to be redressed through the judicial forum, then the Supreme Court’s doors are always open for them.”
Background: how the remark arose
The observation was made on May 15, 2026, during the hearing of a matter the Bench treated as frivolous.
In the course of that hearing, the Chief Justice likened unemployed persons in the legal field to cockroaches a remark that was swiftly interpreted in wide sections of public commentary as targeting the entire youth community rather than the legal profession alone, and which triggered a considerable uproar.
The day after the hearing, the Chief Justice issued a statement asserting that he had been misquoted.
Setting out what he said he had actually meant, he stated,
“I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday. What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites. It is totally baseless to suggest that I criticised the youth of our nation. Not only am I proud of our present and future human resource, but every youth of India inspires me. It is not an exaggeration to say that Indian youth have great regard and respect for me, and I too see them as the pillars of a developed India.”
Background: the movement the remark spawned
The controversy did not remain confined to the courtroom. The interpretation of the remark as an attack on the youth gave rise to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) a movement that reclaimed the Chief Justice’s words as its own name, casting itself as a platform for those the remark was thought to have dismissed.
The CJP went on to become the organisational force behind the agitation at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. Beginning in June 2026, it led a sustained protest over the alleged leak of the 2026 NEET-UG examination paper and wider failures in the conduct of public examinations, with the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as its principal demand.
The protest gathered momentum after climate activist Sonam Wangchuk joined it and began an indefinite hunger strike, and it escalated on July 20 when an attempted march to Parliament was stayed by a heavy police deployment an episode that has since produced multiple FIRs and several rounds of litigation before the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.