The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the Patanjali founders during the previous hearing last week. It had also pulled up the Uttarakhand government for not acting against the Haridwar-based company.
Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Balkrishna are in the Supreme Court today as it hears the contempt case against Patanjali Ayurved in connection with its misleading ads and Covid cure claims. The court had come down heavily on the Patanjali founders during the previous hearing last week. It had also pulled up the Uttarakhand government for not acting against the Haridwar-based company.
This morning, the bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah called the Patanjali founders forward and told them they have made significant contribution to yoga.
The court has rejected two sets of apologies by Ramdev and Balkrishna, noting that the letters were sent to the media first. “Till the matter hit the court, the contemnors did not find it fit to send us the affidavits. They believe in publicity clearly,” Justice Hima Kohli said last week.
Justice A Amanullah, also on the bench, asked if the apology is “even heartfelt”. “Tendering apology is not enough. You should suffer the consequences for violating the court’s order,” he said.
The matter dates back to the Covid years, when Patanjali launched a drug, Coronil, in 2021 and Ramdev described it as the “first evidence-based medicine for COVID-19”. The Indian Medical Association spoke out against the “blatant lie” that Coronil had WHO certification.
Subsequently, a video of Ramdev, in which he was heard saying that allopathy was a “stupid and bankrupt science”, went viral. He said no modern medicine was curing Covid. The IMA sent a legal notice to Ramdev and sought an apology and withdrawal of statements. Patanjali Yogpeeth responded that Ramdev was reading out from a forwarded WhatsApp message and has no ill-will against modern science.
In August 2022, IMA moved a petition against Patanjali after it published an advertisement in newspapers titled ‘Misconceptions Spread By Allopathy: Save Yourself And The Country From The Misconceptions Spread By Pharma And Medical Industry’. The ad claimed that Patanjali drugs had cured people of diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid, liver cirrhosis, arthritis and asthma.
The doctors’ body said the “continuous, systematic, and unabated spread of misinformation” comes alongside Patanjali’s efforts to make false claims about curing certain diseases through use of Patanjali products.
On November 21, 2023, the Supreme Court warned Patanjali against claims that its products can completely cure ailments such as diabetes and high blood pressure and threatened to slap heavy fines.
Patanjali’s counsel, court documents say, then assured that “henceforth, there shall not be any violation of any of the laws, especially relating to advertisement and branding of products”.