The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Patanjali Ayurved’s co-founder yoga guru Ramdev to appear before it in person after he failed to respond to a showcause notice in the contempt proceedings initiated against his company for its “misleading advertisements”, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah remarked that Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved’s Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna had, on a preliminary reading, violated Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act, 1954.
Section 3 pertains to the prohibition of advertisement of drugs for the treatment of certain diseases and disorders, while Section 4 prohibits misleading advertisements relating to drugs.
On February 27, Patanjali Ayurved and Balkrishna were issued notices for contempt of court for continuing to publish misleading advertisements regarding Patanjali’s purported medicinal cures despite them making assurances in November that they would stop advertising such products.
The court has temporarily restrained Patanjali Ayurved from advertising any of its products meant to address specific diseases and disorders listed in the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act.
The court had also cautioned the company in February against making statements critical of any system of medicine.
The Indian Medical Association has alleged that Patanjali carried out a “smear campaign” against modern medicine and the Covid-19 vaccination drive.
Several state units of the Indian Medical Association had initially complained against Ramdev and Patanjali after a half-page Patanjali advertisement appeared in several newspapers on July 10, 2022, saying: “Misconceptions spread by allopathy. Save yourself and the country from the misconceptions spread by the pharma and medical industry.”
The Indian Medical Association had sought the court’s directions to the Centre, the Advertising Standards Council of India and the Central Consumer Protection Authority of India to curb campaigns and advertisements against allopathy.
In November, the court had said that “all false and misleading advertisements of Patanjali Ayurveda have to stop immediately”.
In February, the court asked the Centre to explain what action it has taken under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act, in the context of Patanjali’s misleading advertisements.
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