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The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday granted Hepatologist (liver doctor) and Twitter celebrity Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, who went by the handle ‘TheLiverDoc,’ access to his X (Twitter) account
The single-judge Bench of Justice S.G. Pandit modified the ex-parte order of a Bengaluru court, which directed social media platform X Corp (formerly called Twitter) to suspend his account.
The modification was made after the hepatologist undertook to hide the alleged defamatory tweets against Himalaya Wellness Corporation and its products.
Appearing for Dr Philips, Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi contended that the undertaking was without prejudice to his contentions. He said the product Liv52 was banned in the US.
The High Court recorded in its order that it would grant interim relief to the petitioner, if he undertook to hide all offending tweets related to respondent 1/plaintiff (Himalaya Wellness) and its products.
After Sondhi agreed to the condition, the single-judge Bench permitted him access of his X account and adjourned the matter for hearing on November 2. The High Court further issued notice to social media platform X Corp (formerly called Twitter).
On October 6, Dr Philips had moved the Karnataka High Court against pharmaceutical company Himalaya Wellness and X Corp on suspension of his account.
The Indian clinical scientist, known for his critical views of alternative medicine on social media, had challenged the September 23 order of Additional City Civil and Session Judge D.P. Kumaraswamy, which held that an interim order before issuing notice to Philips was necessary.
The ACCSJ passed the order on two interlocutory applications filed by Himalaya Wellness in a defamation suit against Philips.
The petitions sought a temporary injunction order against Philips, restraining him from making defamatory statements against the company as well as an order to X Corp to temporarily withhold his account from the platform.
The pharmaceutical major alleged that Dr Philips was posting the material in order to promote the products of other pharmaceutical companies such as Cipla and Alchem.
The civil court observed that a reading of the judgments of the Supreme Court and a few High Courts would sensitise one to the gravity of the consequences of such material being posted on the platform.
It further noted that the verdicts indicated that there was a need to issue an ad-interim ex-parte injunction directing parties like Philips to remove the posted material at the earliest so as to minimise damage in the form of loss of reputation, loss of income in monetary terms and disservice to the consumers.