Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as TheLiverDoc, has lodged a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court against pharmaceutical company Himalaya Wellness and social media platform X Corp (formerly Twitter).
The petition has been filed in response to the suspension of Dr. Philips' X account by a Bengaluru Court, following a defamation lawsuit initiated by Himalaya Wellness.
Dr. Philips is an esteemed Indian hepatologist and clinician-scientist, renowned for his critical perspectives on alternative medicine expressed through social media.
On September 23, Additional City Civil and Session Judge DP Kumaraswamy issued an order, stating that, based on the evidence presented by the company and the legal principles established by various court rulings, an interim order was necessary prior to serving notice to Philips.
This order was issued in response to two interlocutory applications filed by Himalaya in a lawsuit against Philips, accusing him of defaming the company.
The applications sought a temporary injunction to prevent Philips from making defamatory statements about the company, as well as an order for X Corp to temporarily suspend his account on the platform.
Himalaya alleged that Philips was posting such material with the intention of promoting products from Cipla and Alchem.
The Court emphasized that a careful examination of judgments from the highest court in the land and several High Courts would make one aware of the serious consequences that can arise from the dissemination of such material on social media platforms.
Furthermore, the Court observed that these judgments indicated the necessity of issuing an ad-interim ex-parte injunction, compelling parties like Philips to expeditiously remove the posted material in order to minimize the damage caused in terms of reputational harm, financial losses, and harm to consumers.
TAGS: Karnataka High Court Defamation Dr Cyriac Abby Philips TheLiverDoc Himalaya Wellness
