Chennai, Oct 26 (IANS): The Madras High Court on Wednesday said that the state police can register a case against actor Kamal Haasan if there is a prima facie case against him for his comments on a herbal drink the Tamil Nadu government is advocating to counter dengue and chikungunya.

Hearing a petition filed by Devarajan to order registration of case against the actor, the court said police can register a case against Haasan if there is merit in the complaint against him.

The Tamil Nadu government has advocated drinking of 'Nilavembu Kudineer', made from the 'Nilavembu plant' (Andrographis paniculate) to counter the vector-borne diseases and many voluntary organisations also started distributing the herbal drink in residential areas as a measure to prevent dengue in the state.

However, there were also messages in the social media that the herbal drink has side effects and in his tweet on October 17, Haasan urged his fan club members not to distribute it till its efficacy is proven by proper research.

Research need not be done only by the allopathic stream professionals but also by those in the traditional cure stream, Haasan said and added that side effects for medicines is also a tradition.