Be ready for action: Supreme Court tells Patanjali's Baba Ramdev in misleading ads case
During the last hearing, SC severely criticised Patanjali's Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna for not following its directives in the misleading ads case and asked them to be physically present before the court.
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Baba Ramdev, yoga guru and founder of Patanjali Ayurved, along with Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna, appeared in the Supreme Court today, in the misleading advertisements case. The SC came down heavily on Patanjali for defying its orders and observed that the medical advertisements issued by the Ramdev-led company are in the "teeth of law".
'Be ready for action', the Supreme Court told Ramdev, stating that the court would need to take contempt cases to the logical conclusion.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also refused to accept the apology tendered by Patanjali last month. "We are not happy with your apology," the top court said, giving the company one last opportunity to file a 'better' response in its contempt proceedings. The case will be next heard on April 10.
The apex court also held the government responsible, saying again that the government chose to shut its eyes and asked the Centre for explanation over why action was not taken against claims made against allopathy during the pandemic.
During the previous hearing, the SC severely criticised Ramdev and Balkrishna for not heeding its directives and asked them to be physically present before the court on April 2.
After the hearing, Patanjali Ayurved formally expressed regret to the Supreme Court in response to a notice prompting it to justify why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated for allegedly breaching an assurance provided to the top court on November 21, 2023.
In the affidavit that was filed in response to the notice, Balkrishna regretted that the advertisement in question which was meant to contain only general statements inadvertently included 'offending sentences’. They assured that such ads would not be issued in the future.
On February 27, Patanjali Ayurved and Balakrishna were held in contempt by the SC. The court had also issued a notice against Patanjali for violating its previously passed order against misleading advertising that claimed Patanjali Ayurved products cured serious diseases and made claims against allopathy.
On March 19, 2024, Ramdev and Balkrishna were summoned for non-response to a contempt notice concerning the misleading advertisements. The apex court noted their failure to reply to the notice and issued the directive. It came as part of ongoing proceedings where the Court previously issued a contempt notice against Patanjali Ayurved for persisting with misleading advertisements regarding medicinal cures.
The case began in November 2023 when SC, while hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), cautioned Patanjali Ayurved against making "false" and "misleading" claims in advertisements about its medicines.
