Cheating case against homeopathic doctor for practicing Allopathy quashed by Madras High Court citing TN government circular

A criminal case initiated against a homeopathic doctor for practicing allopathy medicine was quashed by the Madras High Court last week citing a directive of the State government allowing practitioners of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani registered with the Tamil Nadu Board of Indian Medicine to practice allopathy [Dr R Senthilkumar v The State]..Justice RMT Teekaa Raman quashed the case placing reliance on a circular issued by the Health & Family Welfare department which allowed the practice of allopathy in addition to their respective system.The circular said that institutionally qualified practitioners of Ayurveda, Sidddha and Unani, who are registered in the Tamil Nadu Board of Indian Medicine, Chennai are eligible to practice in the respective system with Allopathy based on the training and teaching they had in the course though they cannot exclusively do the practice in Allopathy medicine."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 system also with Modern Scientific Medicine including Surgery and Gynecology Obstetrics, Anesthesiology, ENT, Ophthalmology etc," the Court ruled..The charge against the petitioner was of cheating under the Indian Penal Code and offences under the Indian Medical Council Act..The single-judge also took note of a specific request by the Police Commissioner to his subordinates, in the circular, to refrain from intervening with the practice of such practitioners.“Hence, it is clear that without following the said direction, the present case has been registered by the respondent police," Justice Raman found..Further reliance was placed on a previous judgment of the High Court in the case of Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical Graduates Association v Indian Medical Association wherein it was held that every registered medical practitioner in the State was practicing the modern scientific system of medicine for the purposes of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act..It was concluded that the law laid down in this decision squarely covered the facts of this case.“And therefore, I have no hesitation to quash the charge sheet,” said the judge..Advocate V Prakash Babu appeared for the petitioner while the respondent was represented by government advocate S Udaya Kumar..[Read Order]