Delhi HC asks Ramdev, Balakrishna, Patanjali Ayurved to take down tweets defaming allopath doctors

Delhi HC on Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna

The Delhi High Court on July 29 asked Patanjali Ayurved promoter Baba Ramdev, managing director Balakrishna and the company to take down tweets that blamed Allopathy doctors for Covid-19-related deaths.

The court further restrained  Ramdev, his associate Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurveda from making such allegations. Justice Anup Jairam Bambani stated that if the tweets are not taken down, the social media intermediaries will take down the content.

The order was passed in a defamation case filed against Patanjali and its promotors by the Resident Doctors' Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar along with the Association of Resident Doctors, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, the Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP), Resident Doctors' Association, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut and the Telangana Junior Doctors' Association, Hyderabad.

The suit had contended that Ramdev and his associates made claims against allopathic doctors that accused them for the deaths during the pandemic.

The doctors argued that Patanjali was creating doubts in the minds of the general public as to the safety and efficacy of allopathic treatments, and also of Covid-19 vaccines.

The duo recently ran into trouble with the Supreme Court for displaying misleading ads of Patanjali medicines, despite giving an undertaking not to do so.

The court on March 19 asked Ramdev and Balkrishna to appear personally to respond to contempt proceedings for continuing to run misleading advertisements. It issued a contempt notice against them for publishing advertisements of products in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and its Rules.

Saying it didn't want to be "generous" in the case, the two-judge bench said on April 10: "We do not accept it (unconditional apology). We decline to. We consider it a willful, deliberate disobedience of the undertaking".

The orders were passed on a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The court reserved its judgment in the contempt plea on May 14.