The Supreme Court on Tuesday told Indian Medical Association (IMA) President Dr. RV Asokan that he has to publish apologies in all prominent newspapers for his statements criticising the Supreme Court (Indian Medical Association and anr vs Union of India and ors).
A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta also said that the same should be done by him personally and not on IMA's behalf and the expenses for the same should be borne out of his own pocket.
"Apology needs to be tendered by you and from your own pocket, not IMA," the Court made it clear.
It then adjourned the matter to enable Asokan to publish apologies in prominent newspapers.
"It is submitted that the contempt proceedings may be deferred to enable the applicant to publish his apology in prominent newspapers and purge himself of the contempt," the Court noted while adjourning the matter.
The Court was hearing a case filed by the IMA against
Patanjali Ayurved and its promoters, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, for publishing misleading advertisements targeting evidence-based medicine.
Over time, the scope of the case was expanded beyond just lapses by Patanjali to larger issues such as misleading advertisements by others, the liability of celebrity influencers who endorse misleading ads, unethical practices in modern medicine etc.
The IMA had earlier accused Patanjali of running a smear campaign against modern medicine. The hearings in the matter saw the Court passing several strong strictures against Patanjali.
However, the IMA itself later came under fire from the Court when its President made comments that were critical of the Court for asking doctors
to put their own house in order and curb unethical practices in modern medicine.
In
comments made to the press, IMA President Dr. RV Asokan had said that it was "unfortunate" that the Supreme Court criticised the IMA and that doctors were demoralised due to the same.
It had then asked Asokan to publish to public apologies in prominent newspapers including the ones to which he had given the controversial interview.
When the matter was taken up for hearing today, the Court asked IMA counsel Senior Advocate PS Patwalia about the details of the apology.
"Except your own in-house publication, where have you published? Your newsletters are not good enough. Was it published in all newspapers where your interview was published," the Court queried.
The Court noted that the order to publish apology was not complied with and that the IMA President was inviting trouble upon himself.
"Besides the ones you are referring to which other publications was it (interview) share with? You have to send (apology) to all of them. You cannot just wash your hands off. No assumptions here in your favour just because you say so. You are inviting trouble on yourself and we are not taking your apology," the Court said.
It cautioned that Asokan would be made to appear personally before the Bench.
"We have done the courtesy of dispensing with his presence, we probably need to make him appear virtually," the Court remarked.
The Court eventually adjourned the matter to enable Asokan to comply with the Bench's directions.
