SC gives Ramdev, Balkrishna a week to issue public statement, refuses to let them off the hook for now, ET Retail

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that at this stage, it didn’t want to say that Patanjali‘s Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna were being let off the hook in the contempt case hearing. They have been given a week to issue a public statement in the fake advertisements case.

“You are not so innocent that you did not know what we said in our earlier order,” SC told Patanjali MD Balkrishna. The duo were present in the court after the SC ordered them to do so.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing the case. The apex court has posted the case for further hearing on April 23.

Taking cognisance of their unconditional apology, the bench warned them against their speeches degrading modern medicine systems.

Interacting with Ramdev, the bench said that alternative forms of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha have been present in India for ‘time immemorial’.

“We didn’t mean to violate SC’s orders. We did over 5,000 researches and experiments,” Ramdev said.

The bench asked about the press conference done by the company a day after it told SC that it wouldn’t engage in degrading other forms of medicine. Ramdev once again said that the company will not give such statements in the future.

Patanjali’s apology

The matter pertains to a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association which has alleged that the company engaged in a smear campaign against modern medicine and at the time, Covid-19 vaccines.

In the previous hearing, the SC slammed the duo as the bench refused to accept the affidavits containing ‘unconditional apology’ filed by Ramdev and Balkrishna in the matter. Court said these apologies were ‘only on paper’.

SC’s view on Uttarakhand authority

In addition, it also pulled up the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority for their inaction over the misleading ads issued by the company.SC accused the body for remaining in ‘deep slumber’ despite being aware of the misleading ads. The SC bench asked the USLA why the court shouldn’t believe that it was in cahoots with Ramdev and Balkrishna and was keeping its eyes shut deliberately.

On USLA counsel’s reference to the bona fides of its officers, SC was none to impressed. “Bona fide you say? We will rip you apart on bona fide. We will rip you apart”.