Patanjali Promoter Baba Ramdev, MD
The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered Patanjali Ayurved and its promoter Baba Ramdev and others to drop their claims that allopathic doctors were responsible for the deaths of lakhs of people during the COVID-19 pandemic and promoted Patanjali’s Coronil as a “cure”. [Resident Doctors Association, AIIMS and Ors v. Ram Kishan Yadav Alias Swami Ramdev and Ors].
justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani It passed interim orders restraining Ramdev, his associate Acharya Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved from filing any such complaint.
“I have instructed the Defendants to remove certain Tweets within three days, failing which the social media intermediary will remove the content.” said the judge.
The court was dealing with defamation suits filed by the Resident Doctors’ Association of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) of Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar against Patanjali and its promoters, while defamation suits were also filed by the Resident Doctors’ Association of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Union of Resident Doctors Punjab (URDP), Resident Doctors’ Association of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut and Telangana State Junior Doctors’ Association, Hyderabad.
According to the lawsuit, Ramdev and his associates made the following assertions, which are false and should be removed:
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Hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 are due to symptomatic treatment.
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Allopathic doctors have caused the deaths of thousands of patients.
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Allopathic doctors have exploited the profits from patients and recommended drugs that have the same effect as poison.
The doctors alleged that through such misleading claims, Dr Patanjali is sowing doubts in the minds of the general public about the safety and efficacy of allopathic medicines and also the COVID-19 vaccine.
The suit sought an interim order restraining Ramdev, his associate Acharya Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved from making any defamatory claims against allopathic medicines or promoting Coronil as a treatment for COVID-19.
The doctors alleged that Ramdev had caused inconvenience to the public and made false representations by promoting his Coronil as a treatment for COVID-19 while making statements against allopathic medicines and doctors.
““During the ongoing pandemic, misinformation campaigns about the adverse effects and lack of efficacy of allopathy tend to divert people from allopathic treatment which is also prescribed by the Government of India as a standard form of treatment, thereby directly violating the right to health of Indian citizens/nationals, which is an aspect of Article 21 of the Constitution.” This was stated in the lawsuit filed by the doctors.
