Reckitt takes dermatologist and influencers to court over false and misleading remarks

New Delhi: Reckitt India, the parent company of Dettol, filed a case against dermatologist Dr Manjot Marwah and social media influencers Raj Shamani and Ritik Chaturvedi for allegedly making misleading and defamatory statements about Dettol Antiseptic Liquid (DAL) in a podcast, a report by Bar and Bench said.

The company took the matter to the Delhi High Court on April 7 before Justice Saurabh Banerjee.

The notice was served to the defendants through email and WhatsApp and they are supposed to respond by today.

The alleged claims were made on a podcast episode called "Skin Mistakes You Didn't Know! Tanning and Sunburn Exposed" released on April 1, 2025, and a subsequent Instagram reel titled "Never Use Dettol in your Skin" posted on April 5, 2025.

According to Reckitt, Dr Marwah claimed that Dettol is merely a floor-cleaning liquid that should not be used on human skin and that it "burns wounds and delays healing," the report said.

Marwah claims to be a dermatologist and has over 783,000 Instagram followers. She posted a story on her Instagram account on April 5 referring to a Philippines FDA report to back her remarks.

However, as per Reckitt, Dettol is not sold in the Philippines by the company’s affiliate; hence, the report holds no ground, the report added.

Lall, representing Reckitt, claimed that Dettol is a licensed drug approved as an antiseptic for use on human skin and has been marketed as an antiseptic liquid since 1936 and falls under the definition of "drugs" as per Section 3(b)(i) of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, the report said.

Lall added that the Indian Pharmacopoeia defines an antiseptic as "an agent that inhibits or destroys microorganisms on living tissue including skin, oral cavities, and open wounds," the report added.

The social media influencers in question have garnered millions of views through their content. This raises the question of credibility as content creators continue to make health claims based on misleading sources.