Sharbat-Jihad comment against Rooh Afza: Delhi High Court orders Baba Ramdev not to use communal slurs

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev to file an affidavit today undertaking that he shall not issue any statements, social media posts or disparaging videos/advertisements containing communal slurs to target competitor companies [Hamdard National Foundation India v. Patanjali Foods Limited & Anr]..Justice Amit Bansal reiterated his direction of April 22 on a plea filed by pharmaceutical and food company Hamdard Foundation which alleged that Ramdev had used communal slurs to target its popular drink Rooh Afza.The Court had on April 22 ordered the following:"Let an affidavit be also placed on record by both the defendant no.1 and defendant no.2 stating that defendants no.1 and 2 shall not issue any statements, social media posts or disparaging videos/advertisements in future similar to those which are subject matter of the present suit in respect of products of the competitors."In compliance with the same, Ramdev's counsel Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar produced affidavits which he said will be filed in court.The Court noted the submission and ordered that the same be filed during the course of the day today."Mr. Nayar submits that the defendants are willing to file an undertaking in terms of paragraph 18 of the order dated April 22. Copy of the affidavit has been given to the counsel for the plaintiff. Let the same be filed during the course of the day," the judge said in his order..Ramdev 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, Nayar appeared on behalf of 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..When the case came up for hearing on Friday to ascertain compliance, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi pointed out that Ramdev has changed the visibility of the controversial video on YouTube to 'private' and hence, subscribers to his channel could still watch it."There is a difficulty. On YouTube, they have made the video private. So, any subscriber to the channel can view it. Public cannot view it but subscribers can," Sethi contended."We will take it down, we have 24 hours. We will comply with orders of the court," Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar said on behalf of Patanjali and Ramdev.He also said that affidavits in compliance with the earlier order will be filed and prayed that the matter be closed and the suit be disposed of.The Court then directed that affidavits be filed during the course of the day.The matter will be heard for compliance on May 9..Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi 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..Pertinently, the Court had on May 1 slammed Baba Ramdev for a new video targeting Hamdard.This was after Hamdard informed the Court that Ramdev published another video with objectionable remarks against Hamdard.The Court had then taken 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 the latest video within 24 hours on all social media platforms.The Court then asked that an affidavit of compliance be filed within a week..[Read Live Coverage]