'No criminal proceedings against Ayush docs for using allopathy'

CHENNAI: No criminal proceedings can be initiated against Indian medicine practitioners if they use/prescribe allopathic medicines too, the Madras High Court has ruled.

Justice RMT Teekaa Raman gave the ruling recently while allowing a criminal original petition from Dr R Senthil Kumar, who sought to quash the chargesheet registered against him before the Judicial Magistrate No.1, Salem in 2018.

The Block Medical Officer, Government Primary Health Centre, Panamarathupatty in Salem, on the orders of the Joint Director of the Medical department, had conducted a raid in the premises of the petitioner's clinic in October, 2017 and found Kumar, who had BHMS in Homoeopathy Medicine, had been practising in allopathy medicine also and seized the same from his clinic.

Based on this complaint, the local police registered an FIR under Section 15(3) of the Indian Medical Council Act and under Section 420 (Cheating) of the IPC. Challenging this, the present petition is filed.

The petitioner's counsel cited a circular issued by the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police in October, 2010, which stated the doctors of Indian medicine should not be disturbed if they use/prescribe allopathy also.

Allowing the petition, the judge said that in the light of the said circular, it is imperative that no proceedings can be initiated against any of those registered practitioners in Siddha, Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani, who are eligible to practice irrespective of the respective systems, with Modern Scientific Medicine also including Surgery and Gynecology Obstetrics, Anesthesiology, ENT and Opthalmology.

In the said circular, a specific request had been made to the subordinate police not to intervene with the practice of registered practitioners of Siddha, Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy and Naturopathy, who are registered with the TN Siddha Medical Council, TN Board of Indian Medicine and TN Homeopathy Medical Council. Hence, it is clear that without following the said direction, the present case has been registered by the police.

In view of the settled preposition of law, as also a judgment on the same lines of the High Court in 2010, besides taking note of the factual position that the petitioner herein is a qualified medical practitioner and after seeing the seizure mahazar, the judge said he finds that the law laid down in the above said decision squarely covers the factual position and therefore has no hesitation to quash the charge sheet, the judge said and quashed the same.