SC won’t let Patanjali ‘off the hook’; Ramdev gets a week to issue public apology

The Supreme Court has granted a week’s time to yoga guru Ramdev, his aide Balkrishna, and Patanjali Ayurved to issue a public apology in the misleading advertisements case, but said it was not letting them “off the hook” right now.

Both Ramdev and Balkrishna were present during the hearing on Tuesday (April 16) and personally tendered an unqualified apology to the apex court.

A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah took note of their apologies, but made it clear that at this stage it has not decided to “let them off the hook”.

“Cannot degrade allopathy”

“You are doing good work but you cannot degrade allopathy,” the Bench told Balkrishna while interacting with him.

Ramdev, who also interacted with the Bench, said he had no intention to show disrespect to the court in any manner.

However, the Bench told Balkrishna that they (Patanjali) are not so innocent that they didn’t know what the top court had said in its earlier orders in the case.

“I am willing to give a public apology,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ramdev and Balkrishna, told the Bench at the outset.

Court interacts with duo

The apex court asked Ramdev and Balkrishna, both of whom were present in the court, to come forward for an interaction with the bench. “They should feel they have a connect with the court,” the bench said.

As the court pointed out that the company had defamed other medicines and that publicity of medicines for incurable diseases is prohibited, Ramdev said in Hindi, “We should not have said this. will be more careful in future.”

The court asserted that the duo had acted irresponsibly.

The apex court has now posted the matter for further hearing on April 23.

Apology offered

Ramdev and Balkrishna had last week tendered an “unconditional and unqualified apology” before the top court over advertisements issued by the firm making tall claims about the medicinal efficacy of its products.

In two separate affidavits filed in the court, Ramdev and Balkrishna have tendered an unqualified apology for the “breach of the statement” recorded in the November 21 last year order of the apex court.

Court’s earlier order

In the November 21, 2023 order, the top court had noted that counsel representing Patanjali Ayurved had assured it that “henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form”.

The top court had said Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is “bound down to such assurance”.

The non-observance of the specific assurance and the subsequent media statements irked the apex court, which later issued a notice to them to explain why contempt proceedings be not initiated against them.

(With agency inputs)