New Delhi:

 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.

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court has directed a Noida-resident to remove her social media posts that alleged she found a centipede in a tub of Amul ice cream bought by her.

Justice Manmeet P S Arora, while dealing with a lawsuit by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which markets products under Amul brand, further restrained the customer from posting and uploading any other identical or similar content on social media platforms until further orders.

In a post on social media platform ‘X’ on June 15, Deepa Devi had shared a picture purportedly showing a centipede inside her Amul ice cream tub that she ordered through an instant delivery app.

The plaintiff company argued in high court that the claim was false and incorrect as it was absolutely impossible for any foreign substance, let alone an insect, to be present in an ice cream tub packed at its facility.

In an order passed on July 4, the court observed that the non-cooperation of the customers who have also remained absent in the present proceedings, has given credence to the company’s case.

It noted that the customers were given an opportunity to participate in the court proceedings and make good the claim that they canvassed in their social media post but they “elected not to appear” and also refused to hand over the ice cream tub to the company for the purpose of the investigation.

“The non-appearance of defendant nos. 1 and 2 (Deepa Devi and her husband) evidences their unwillingness to participate in the forensic examination and verification of their claims of the dead insect made in the social media posts uploaded on 15.06.2024,” observed the court in an ad interim ex-parte order passed in the case.

“Defendant nos. 1 and 2 are directed to forthwith remove the social media posts uploaded by them on defendant no. 1’s Twitter/X account titled @Deepadi11 ..within 3 days,” ordered the court.

They are restrained from “posting and uploading any content identical or similar to the said post” on ‘X’ or any other social media platform including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube until further orders, it said.

They 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,” it added.

The court clarified that if the defendants fail to take down the social media posts within three days, the company can write to ‘X’ to delete the same from their platform.

Represented by senior advocate Sunil Dalal and lawyer Abhishek Singh, the plaintiff company submitted that while the company was willing to investigate the matter and had even contacted the customers on June 15, they refused to make available the ice cream tub to the officials.

It was submitted that numerous stringent quality checks are employed at every stage — from procurement of raw milk from the farmer till the manufacturing of the ice cream at the plaintiff’s state of art ISO certified plants, till the loading of finished product in specially-designed, temperature-controlled refrigerated vans.

The court was assured that stringent quality checks absolutely ensure that no physical, bacterial or chemical contamination whatsoever is introduced to the product and also, ensures that each product conforms to the standards laid out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

The plaintiff argued that a forensic examination can be conducted by any government laboratory as it would effectively determine whether the insect was indeed present in the ice cream tub before it was sealed and packed. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)