Court directs news portals to hide content on alleged pregnancy ‘scam’

Courts can’t encourage appointments made outside constitutional scheme: DB
Courts can’t encourage appointments made outside constitutional scheme: DB

Excelsior Correspondent

Srinagar, Mar 11: A local court today restrained two news portals from publishing any news related to the case of a gynaecologist accused of demanding money for the termination of an alleged pregnancy.
The 2nd Additional Munsif, Srinagar, ordered this following a lawsuit filed by the doctor through her lawyer.
“Heard and considered. Issue notice to the other side for filing objections. In the meantime, until the objections are filed by the other side and considered, the defendants are restrained from publishing any news about the plaintiff through any medium or form of media until the next date of hearing,” the order reads.
“The defendants are further directed to hide the posts concerning the subject matter in issue, if uploaded on their web portals or social media platforms until the next date of hearing,” the court directed.
The court mentioned that the instant suit for a permanent injunction was presented before it after being assigned by the Principal District and Session Judge, Srinagar, for disposal under the law.
“The Office report was called. Along with the main suit, the plaintiff has filed two more applications, one for ad-interim relief and another for dispensation of notice.”
The plaintiff informed the court that the defendants-the two news outlets and the woman who has levelled allegations-“fabricated a false story” and uploaded it on their Facebook page and news channel “without knowing the whole story” and conducted a media trial “which is unwarranted as per the law of the land, hence this suit.”
The court further stated in its order that the Counsel pleads that the application for the dispensation of prior notice may be allowed as the case is of an emergent nature and “in case the application for dispensation of notice is not allowed, the plaintiff would be non-suited.”
In response, the Court said: “…considered the urgency pleaded by him. The urgency pleaded, in my opinion, is well deserved, accordingly, the application for dispensation of notice is allowed and application disposed of.”
It is worth noting that last week, an unmarried female patient alleged that the gynaecologist demanded money from her for the termination of a “pregnancy”, after she was “shown” two pregnancy test kits declared her positive.
However, the allegations were refuted by the doctor, while reports circulated on social media tagged the entire episode as a “pregnancy scam” without knowing the other side of the story. The matter is currently under investigation by the police as well as the authorities in the Health Department.