Delhi High Court closes case against Baba Ramdev for 'Sharbat jihad' comment

The Delhi High Court on Friday closed a suit moved by Hamdard Foundation for communal slurs used by Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev in videos targeting the pharmaceutical and food company [Hamdard National Foundation India v. Patanjali Foods Limited & Anr]..The Court had earlier directed Ramdev to file an affidavit to state on record that he will not issue any statements or disparaging videos/advertisements containing communal slurs against competitor companiesJustice Amit Bansal was also told that as undertaken earlier, Ramdev and Patanjali have taken down the objectionable videos. Considering the same, the Court passed the following order,"Pursuant to the order passed in the suit, affidavits have been filed on behalf of the defendants binding them to the averments made in it. Counsel for the plaintiff does not press for more reliefs. The present suit is decreed.".Ramdev had made the controversial remarks on April 3 while promoting his company's product, Gulab Sharbat. In a video, he targeted Hamdard's Rooh Afza and claimed that Hamdard was using its money for building masjids and madrasas. Ramdev also used the term 'sharbat jihad' in his video.When the matter was first heard on April 22, Justice Bansal slammed Ramdev for the videos, observing that the Patanjali founder's remarks were indefensible and shocked the court's conscience."I could not believe my eyes and ears when I saw this [videos]," the judge said on April 22.After the Court warned of a strong order, counsel for Patanjali and Ramdev that day and assured the Court that the advertisements, whether in print format or videos, will be taken down.The Court then also ordered Ramdev to file an affidavit to undertake that he will not issue such statements, advertisements and social media posts in future..However, the Court on May 1 was informed that that Ramdev had again uploaded a new video targeting Hamdard. The Court then took strong exception to Ramdev's conduct and said it would issue a contempt of court notice to him and summon him to Court.Following the critical observations of Court, Ramdev's counsel agreed to take down the objectionable portions from that video within 24 hours on all social media platforms..Senior Advocates AS Chandhiok and Sandeep Sethi with Advocates Pravin Anand, Dhruv Anand, Nikhil Rohatgi, Udita Patro, Shivender Singh Pratap, Dhananjay Khanna, Nimrat Singh, Sampurnaa Sanyal, Navdeep and Mehak Khanna appeared for Hamdard.Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar represented Ramdev and Patanjali.