Baba Ramdev received criticism from Supreme Court (SC) for his ads criticising allopathy and other modern medical methods.
In response to a complaint by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging ‘false and malicious’ advertising by Patanjali, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday sent a notice to Baba Ramdev’s company, Patanjali Ayurveda.
“Baba Ramdev can popularise his system, but why must he criticise other systems? We all respect him because he popularised yoga. But he should not criticise other systems. What is the guarantee that Ayurveda will cure all diseases? He cannot refuse the doctor system. He must exercise restraint in abusing other systems,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said.
“Why give these huge advertisements saying doctors are killers? He cannot abuse the doctors and systems like this,” observed CJI NV Ramana.
Hearing a plea from the IMA seeking oversight over the campaigns and defamatory commercials against modern medicines, doctors, and the Covid-19 immunisation, the three-judge bench, led by the CJI, made the observation.
SC also issued notices to the Centre, the Health Ministry, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), and other organisations requesting responses to IMA’s argument.
IMA stated in its plea that Patanjali‘s advertisements claimed to cure COVID-19. But it spoke against allopathic medicine negatively impacting the medical profession. It spread misinformation among the ‘gullible common public who shall suffer the consequences of this misinformation campaign.’
“When doctors started protesting, the Parliament also heard the issue. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) also said they would take up the matter. However, nothing happened. Later, another advertisement got released in July 2022 saying the same things,” the counsel appearing for the IMA said.
The IMA plea has argued that the company violated the provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 by repeated acts of omission and commission.
Furthermore, Supreme Court will subsequently hear the case in the last week of September.
Earlier in August, the Delhi High Court, while hearing a plea related to Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali ‘Coronil’, observed that the public at large must not be misled by making statements against allopathy.
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