Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr J A Jayalal. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr J A Jayalal Monday moved the Delhi High Court challenging a trial court order which prima facie held that he was misusing his position in the association to propagate Christianity.
A suit was filed by one Rohit Jha before a trial court in Delhi alleging that under the shield of IMA, Jayalal is misusing his position and misleading the nation and people to convert Hindus to Christianity.
Citing articles and interviews of Jayalal, he sought a direction from the court to restrain the IMA chief from writing, speaking in the media, or publishing any content that is defamatory to Hindu religion or Ayurveda.
Advocate Nitesh Jain, who challenged the sessions court order, on behalf of Jayalal, in his plea stated that the trial court order is “bad in law”.
The plea stated that the trial court “errored in directing and passing adverse statement that appellant shall not use the platform of IMA for propagating any religion”, which the appellant “never did”. But by passing such remark, the court prima facie held the appellant was guilty of propagating Christianity, “which is completely wrong and amounts to final judgment without any trial and final adjudication,” it stated.
Jayalal’s legal team submitted that he gave an interview to one, Morgan Lee of Christianity Today, which was thereafter published on its website. The plea stated that there “was nothing said against any religion or against any individual or against the plaintiff or against Ayurveda”.
“It was an interview given in the personal capacity of the appellant, expressing his personal view,” it said. In the interview, there was nothing said” about converting “medical students, doctors and patients to Christianity,” the plea stated.
The plea stated that some unknown persons with a malafide intention created a fabricated screenshot of a fake news article published on the website of Haggai International, where it was alleged that Jayalal wanted to use his position for Christian Missionary. The plea stated that Jayalal checked with the website, who informed that such an article did not exist on their website.
Justice Asha Menon has issued a notice and will hear the matter on June 16.
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