Justice SG Pandit directed that the offending tweets by Dr. Philips against Himalaya should be hidden for the time being as a condition for the restoration of the account.
On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court paved the way for the reinstatement of Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips’s X account, also recognized as The LiverDoc.
Dr. Philips approached the High Court following the suspension of his account by a Bengaluru court in response to a defamation complaint filed by pharmaceutical and wellness company Himalaya Wellness. Justice SG Pandit additionally ordered a temporary concealment of Dr. Philips’ offensive tweets against Himalaya after his attorney provided an undertaking to that effect.
The case will be reevaluated in the second week of November, with the Court issuing a notice to X Corporation in this matter.
Dr. Philips, an Indian hepatologist and clinician-scientist, is known for his critical stance on alternative medicine on social media. Senior counsel Aditya Sondhi, representing Dr. Philips, expressed concerns about the trial court’s suspension order and sought the reinstatement of the account while temporarily concealing nine offensive tweets by Dr. Philips.
Sondhi clarified that he was not admitting to the defamatory nature of the tweets but suggested concealing them temporarily while the writ petition is pending. The Court accepted this arrangement, ordering the account’s restoration with the condition that Dr. Philips hide the offensive tweets.
Himalaya alleged that Philips posted defamatory content to promote Cipla and Alchem products, leading to the interim suspension of his @TheLiverDr account by Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge DP Kumaraswamy on September 23. Dr. Philips was represented before the High Court by Senior Advocate Dr. Aditya Sondhi and a team of advocates.
