The Delhi High Court has directed a social media user, a woman, to take down a post from X alleging a centipede in Amul ice cream. It also restrained the woman and others from making such posts on social platforms.
The Delhi High Court said in an order on Thursday.
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited moved against the user and sought a direction for the removal of the post on X. The high court passed an ex-parte order noting the non-appearance of defendants.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed the removal of the social media post uploaded by them on defendant Deepa Devi’s X account titled @Deepadi11 within three days from the date of passing of this order.
“Finding an insect 🐞 inside my @Amul India ice cream 🍨 was truly alarming 🚨 Quality control and food safety should never be compromised@FSSAI Publication have to take some legal action on such kind of incidents they are increasing in numbers day by day pic.twitter.com/K7yxiARwK5
— Deepa Devi (@Deepadi11) June 15, 2024
The High Court has restrained Deepa Devi and other defendants from posting any content identical or similar to the said post on the X or any other social media platform, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, until further orders.
“The defendant nos. 1 and 2 are further restrained from publishing or causing to publish any content with regard to the plaintiff or plaintiff’s product with respect to the incidents referred to in the plaint, anywhere on the internet or in print or electronic media until further orders,” Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said in an order passed on July 4.
Senior counsel Sunil Dalal, for the plaintiff federation, stated that numerous stringent quality checks have been employed by the plaintiff at every stage, from procurement of raw milk from farmers to the manufacturing of ice cream at the plaintiff’s state-of-the-art ISO-certified plants, till the loading of finished products in specially designed temperature-controlled refrigerated vans.
It was also submitted that the stringent quality checks completely and absolutely ensure that no physical, bacterial, or chemical contamination whatsoever is introduced to the product and also ensure that each product conforms to the standards laid out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
He further stated that stringent inspection is done at every stage, from milking cattle till packaging and loading, and stringent quality inspection is carried out. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for any foreign substance, let alone an insect, to be present in an AMUL ice cream tub packed at the facility.
The High Court noted that a representative met the defendants but they refused to hand over the subject Amul ice cream tub so that it could be tested to verify their claims.
It was stated that the plaintiff was willing to investigate the matter to ascertain the veracity of the claims of defendants 1 and 2. However, they refused to make available the said ice cream tub to the officials of the plaintiff.
The defendants no. 1 and 2 did not appear before the court despite the issuance of summons.
The bench said that it is a matter of record that defendants were served with an advance copy of the suit record in June 2024 by the counsel for the plaintiff prior to its first listing on June 28; however, none appeared for them either on June 28 or July 1.
The matter has been listed for hearing on July 22.
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