Cont. Pet. No.139 of 2020

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

Reserved on

20.01.2023

Delivered on

23.03.2023

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R.SUBRAMANIAN

Contempt Petition No.139 of 2020

M/s. Dr.Mohan's Diabetes Specialities

Centre Pvtl. Ltd.,

Rep. by its Authorised Signatory,

Mr.R.P.Appadurai,

having its registered office at

No.6, Conran Smith Road,

Gopalapuram, Chennai 600 086.

... Petitioner

Versus

A.S.Thulasi Sah

... Respondent

PRAYER: Petition filed under Section 11 of the Contempt of Courts Act,

1971, to punish the respondent for his willful defiance disobedience and

violation of the order dated 05.08.2019 passed in O.A. No.730 of 2019 in

C.S.No.463 of 2019.

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Cont. Pet. No.139 of 2020

For Petitioner

: Mr.R.Krishna Ravindran

For Respondents

: Mr.A.S.Thulasi Sah

Respondent- in- person

O R D E R

Complaining disobedience/willful violation of the order passed in

Application No.730 of 2019 dated 05.08.2019, the applicant seeks to punish

the respondent.

2. The suit in CS No.463 of 2019 has been filed by the applicant

seeking compensation of Rs.1,10,00,000/- for the damage and loss caused to

the reputation of the plaintiff due to the willful acts of defamation

committed by the defendant.

3. The petitioner claims to be a leading medical service provider

specialising in Diabetes Care and was incorporated as a Company on

22.10.1990. It is ISO 9001-2000 certified Institution. It is manned by very

renowned diabetologist and is headed by Dr.V.Mohan, who had received

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Cont. Pet. No.139 of 2020

several awards including Padma shri Award by the Government of India. It

is also claimed that Dr.V.Mohan was awarded Harold Rifkin Distinguished

International Service in the cause of Diabetes Award from the American

Diabetes Association and he is also a recipient of Dr.B.C.Roy Award from

the Medical Council of India.

4. The petitioner would aver that the defendant approached its branch

in Kancheepuram on 02.10.2018 seeking treatment for Diabetes. Dr.Karthik

Raghavan, who is incharge of the Centre examined him and he suggested a

certain treatment. The defendant refused to accept the suggestion and opted

to go for Glycemic control. After some time, the defendant started making

calls to the Customer Care Executive and whenever he was called to remind

him of an appointment, he used rude language and claimed that the

treatment was not warranted.

5. The petitioner would further claim that the respondent has been

publishing derogatory posts on the social media with the calculated

intention of tarnishing the image of the plaintiff. On the above contentions,

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Cont. Pet. No.139 of 2020

the petitioner sought for an order of injunction restraining the defendant

from making such malicious publications which would lower the image of

the plaintiff in the public domain.

6. On 05.08.2019 I had granted an interim order restraining the

defendant from publishing, circulating and writing in any manner on any

social media platform or any other public domain any false and derogatory

remarks about the applicant/plaintiff and its management. According to the

petitioner, the order of injunction was communicated to the defendant in

compliance with Order XXXIX Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure on

the same day and it was received by him on 06.08.2019.

7. It is the case of the petitioner that despite receipt of such notice, the

defendant had continuously disobeyed the order and has been publishing

derogatory messages and articles in various social media platforms. Certain

messages put up by the defendant in the social media platform were also

placed before me. Considering the nature of the messages that were posted

in the social media platforms, I had ordered statutory notice to the

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