Supreme Court tells Baba Ramdev it will impose ₹1 crore costs per false claim in Patanjali Ayurved ads

The Supreme Court on Tuesday threatened to impose costs of ₹1 crore per false claim made in each advertisement for Patanjali Ayurved products that claim to cure diseases [Indian Medical Association and anr v. Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra stressed that the issue could not be reduced to a debate between allopathy/modern medicine and Ayurvedic products.“All false and misleading advertisements of Patanjali Ayurved have to stop immediately. This Court will take such infractions very seriously, and will consider imposing costs of up to ₹1 crore on every product regarding which a false claim is made that it can cure a particular disease,” Justice Amanullah remarked.The Court pulled up the company owned by Baba Ramdev for its continued advertisements that had made false claims against evidence-based medicine.It directed Patanjali Ayurved to not publish such advertisements in the future and also avoid make such claims to the media, as ultimately a solution was needed regarding misleading medical advertisements.The Central government was asked to hold consultations and come up with recommendations and solutions towards the same..The Court was hearing a plea filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), through Advocate-on-Record Amarjeet Singh, alleging a smear campaign against the COVID-19 vaccination drive and modern medicine.In August last year, the top court had questioned Ramdev on his attempt to discredit allopathy and its practicing doctors during the coronavirus pandemic.The IMA has initiated multiple criminal proceedings against the Patanjali ambassador.Ramdev was booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code.As per the IMA complaint, over the course of the pandemic, Ramdev had allegedly been propagating false information on social media against medicines being used by medical fraternity, the Government of India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and other frontline organisations.The IMA stressed that there were multiple instances where such statements had been made by Ramdev, all of which are different causes of action.The matter will be taken up next on February 5, 2024.Senior Advocate PS Patwalia with advocate Prabhas Bajaj appeared for IMA. Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya represented Patanjali Ayurved.Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj appeared for the Central government. Advocate Mrinmoi Chatterjee reprsented the the National Association of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, an intervenor in the case..[Read order]