Hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as 'TheLiverDoc', has filed a complaint with the Kerala Cyber Cell against Mr Vijay Patel, a right-wing sympathiser, alleging online bullying, harassment, and intimidation.
In a post made on the social media platform X, Dr Philips said he has filed a complain with the Kochi City Police, the Kerala State Cyber Cell and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kerala under the non-bailable section of IPC 153A — Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence.
Responding to the allegations, Patel told FIT, "It is a fake case with baseless allegations."
Dr Philips, on the other hand, said, "So far, the threats I've got online were mostly benign. But this one is different. They've gone for a complete character assassination online, and it affects me as a person and as a doctor."
Here's a quick rundown of everything you need to know.
What happened? On 23 November, Dr Abby Philips took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to say that he was "subjected to a terrible and vulgar online abuse, harassment, vulgarity and character assassination initiated by a Hindutva handle operated by a man, Mr Vijay Patel."
According to Dr Philips, the alleged online abuse started after he he made a post responding to the Supreme Court's latest order, on 21 November, warning Patanjali over misleading advertisements.
"I just quoted that (the court order) and said that the Supreme Court did the right thing, because they (Patanjali) have been doing misleading advertisement for a very long time," he told FIT.
He adds that it started with Patel responding to the post "using communalism and hurling religious slurs."
"He said I was out to destroy Ayurveda and Yoga because I am part of a Christian Missionary Cartel", Dr Philips said.
Upon blocking Patel's handle, Dr Philips said he was allegedly attacked by a number of other right-wing trolls at his behest.
"The whole narrative of the Patanjali thing has died down and the focus has now become me and my family," said Dr Philips.
The complaint filed: Speaking of the status of the complaint, Dr Philips told FIT, "I submitted the complaint about six days back to the Palarivattom police station. It has been forwarded to the Kochi City Commissioner's office. The police have said they will give me the receipt for the FIR registration."
"The complaint says one, that he has twisted this whole narrative into a communal angle, which has led to other people sending me death threats online. The other part is a defemation charge."Dr Cyriac Abby Philips
The complainee's response: Patel, whom the complaint was filed against, said he hasn't received any notification from the authorities yet.
Responding to the allegations by Dr Philips, Patel told FIT, "he just wants to frame me in a fake case."
"His one-sided allegations with selective data to target Yoga and Ayurveda. He thinks that modern medicine is superior. This is a double face and it leads me to tell him propaganda doctor," he added.
The bigger picture: This is not the first time Dr Philips has come in the line of firing by proponents of Ayurveda and 'alternate medicine'.
Dr Abby Philips is known for using his platform to debunk health misinformation, and for calling out dangerous and 'unscientific' processes in the making and marketing of alternate medicine and herbal products.
In September, Dr Philips' X account was temporarily suspended when a Bengaluru civil court passed an ex-parte, interim injunction order in response to a case filed by Himalaya Wellness Company alleging that he used his X account to defame their company.
The suspension was revoked two weeks later by the Karnataka High Court.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)