‘Do not propagate any religion’, court tells IMA chief in suit alleging forced conversion of Hindus

New Delhi, June 4

“Mazhab nahi sikhata apas mein bair rakhna,” a Delhi court said while directing IMA president JA Jayalal not to use the organisation’s platform to propagate any religion, and cautioned him that loose comment cannot be expected from a person chairing the responsible post.

Additional District Judge Ajay Goel passed the order in a suit filed against Jayalal for allegedly starting a defamatory campaign against the Hindu religion “by way of promoting Christianity, in the garb of proving superiority of Allopathic medicines over Ayurveda in treatment of Covid-19 patients”.

Complainant Rohit Jha stated that Jayalal is taking the umbrage of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), misusing his position and misleading the nation and its citizens in order to convert Hindu to Christian religion.

Citing articles and interviews of the IMA president, Jha sought a direction from the court to restrain him from writing, speaking in media, or publishing any content which is defamatory to Hindu religion or Ayurveda.

Noting that the suit seems to be an offshoot of a verbal duel with respect to Allopathy vs Ayurveda, the court said on Thursday that no injunction is required based on the assurance given by Jayalal that he will not indulge in such kind of activity.

“He shall not use the platform of IMA for propagating any religion and rather shall concentrate for welfare of the medical fraternity and progress in the medical field,” the Additional District Judge directed in an order passed on June 3.

He further asked him not to indulge in any activity contrary to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and maintain the dignity of the position chaired by him.

The district judge pulled up the chief and said, “Any kind of unguarded or loose comment cannot be expected from someone chairing the responsible post. IMA is a prestigious institution...such a platform cannot be used to propagate an individual’s views on any religion.”               

He also cited a couplet written by poet Mohd. Iqbal - “Mazhab Nahi Sikhata Apas Mein Bair Rakhna; Hindi Hai Hum Watan Hai Hindustan Humara; Saare Jahan se Acha Hindustan Humara [Religion does not teach us to fight against each other. We are all Indians. Our India is the best.]”      

“The word Hindi in this couplet, written by a Muslim poet, does not refer to Hindus but is referred to all Hindustanis irrespective of caste, colour and religion, which is the beauty of secularism,” judge Goel said in a seven-page order.

During the course of proceedings, the litigant told the court that Jayalal took advantage of his position for Chirstian missionary activities and also used the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to convert medical students, doctors and patients to Christianity.

Rohit Jha added, “Even in the criticism of Ayurveda, defendant does not lag behind. He alleged that the Modi government believes in Ayurveda because of its cultural values and traditional belief in Hindutva. He claimed that for the last 3-4 years, efforts are being made to replace Ayurveda with modern medicine.”        

Jha averred that an article of March 30, 2020 published in Nation World News read with TV debate of defendant with Baba Ramadev on various TV news channels in May 2021 have seriously disparaged and denigrated his “reputation in the society being a Hindu”.           

Counsel for Jayalal, however, told the court that his client never uttered any remarks against Hinduism nor ever tried to force convert any Indian of any religion into Christianity, adding that the suit seems to have been filed at the behest of RSS.

Jayalal told the court that he is not against Ayurveda but against mixopathy.

This comes amidst ongoing tussle between yoga guru Ramdev and the Indian Medical Association chief after the former’s alleged comments against Covid-19 vaccination and efficacy of allopathic medicine. PTI