Supreme Court Closes Contempt of Court Proceedings against Patanjali, Baba Ramdev
Anadi Tewari (Bar  and  Bench) 13 August 2024
In a big relief to Patanjali Ayurved and its founders Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, the Supreme Court dropped the contempt of court charges against them.
 
Ramdev and Acharya had earlier faced strictures from the top court for the company's misleading advertisements against evidence-based medicine. They had been found to be in breach of their earlier statement that they would not telecast or publish such misleading ads.
 
The bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah pronounced the judgment and closed the contempt of court proceedings.
 
The Ayurved company and its founders had sought pardon from the top court for the breach. Ramdev had also apologised for his November 2023 press conference wherein he had spoken about the case after the Court had passed strictures against Patanjali Ayurved.
 
They had also published apologies in newspapers.
 
The Supreme Court initiated the case based on a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against the alleged smear campaign against the COVID-19 vaccination drive and modern medicine. 
 
In February this year, the Court imposed a temporary ban on such advertisements and issued contempt of court notices to the company and Balkrishna for making misleading claims.
 
In November 2023, the Supreme Court had threatened to impose costs of Rs1 crore per false claim made in each advertisement for Patanjali Ayurved products that claim to cure diseases.
 
The top court had then also directed Patanjali not to publish false advertisements in the future.
 
The Court's focus in this case was initially on Patanjali's misleading ads, the failure of regulatory authorities to act against Patanjali, and the corrective steps to be taken by Patanjali and its promoters (Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna).
 
However, the Court's attention was later drawn to several larger issues, including misleading advertisements by other consumer goods suppliers as well as unethical practices in modern medicine.
 
The Bench had also warned that social media influencers and celebrities would be held equally responsible and liable if they are found endorsing products or services in misleading advertisements.
 
It had taken critical note of the fact that such ads for Patanjali products, which have now been prohibited, were still available on certain online platforms. The Court had also said that the company should not be allowed to sell products for which licences were suspended.
 
It had also pulled up the Uttarakhand government for being hand-in-glove with errant licensing officers while failing to take action in this regard, after which apologies followed.
 
Interestingly, the petitioner side in the case is also under fire. 
 
The IMA President Dr. RV Asokan on August 06 was asked by the top court to publish apologies in all prominent newspapers for his statements criticising the Supreme Court.
 
During one of the hearing, the apex court had asked the doctors to put their own house in order and curb unethical practices in modern medicine.
 
In comments made to the press later, 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.
 
The bench of Justices  Kohli and Amanullah had taken strong exception to the statement give by Asokan.
 
Courtesy: Bar & Bench
 
Comments
parimalshah1
4 weeks ago
Let us hope Baba and the shishya have learnt their lessons.
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