Delhi High Court issues summons to Ramdev over Patanjali’s Coronil

By LE Staff

New Delhi, June 3, 2021: The Delhi High Court today issued summons to yoga guru Ramdev seeking to restrain him from disseminating false information about Patanjali’s Coronil kit claiming that it is a cure for COVID-19.

The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has filed a suit saying Ramdev’s company Patanjali is propagating false information about its Coronil kit that it is a cure for the coronavirus disease.

The DMA, on behalf of its doctor members, said Ramdev’s statement in public is damaging the reputations of science and doctors. “This is a suit for civil rights of doctors,” said advocate Rajiv Dutta, who represented the DMA, the Hindustan Times reported.

The high court also asked Ramdev’s counsel orally to tell him not to make any provocative statement till the next date of hearing on July 13 and respond to the suit.

During the hearing, Justice C Hari Shankar said that Baba Ramdev’s comments were covered under Freedom of Speech and Expression falls under the ambit of a public opinion. “Don’t people have Freedom of Speech? If I feel that Homeopathy is fake, should homeopathy practitioners file a suit against me?” he questioned.

The judge, therefore, told DMA to rather spend their valuable time in finding a cure for the deadly virus than filing a suit, India Today reported.

Advocate Rajiv Dutta representing Delhi Medical Association however contended that due to Baba’s false claims, people were discouraged from getting vaccinated which in turn was obstructing the inoculation process and hurting lives.

Ramdev, the founder of Patanjali Group, is in the eye of the storm over comments against the allopathic system of medicine, including coronavirus vaccines.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) took strong objection to the comments made by Ramdev last month. Citing a video circulating on social media, the IMA said Ramdev claimed that allopathy is a “stupid science”.

The medical body shot off a letter to the Centre, asking strong action should be taken against the yoga guru for denigrating the tireless services rendered by doctors during the Covid-19 pandemic in which many medical practitioners have also succumbed.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan wrote a letter to Ramdev in which he called the comments “unfortunate”. Though Ramdev withdrew his comments and in reply to Vardhan said he wants to put the matter to rest, the IMA has been putting pressure on the government to take action against him.

On Wednesday, the IMA had served a defamation notice on Ramdev for his alleged disparaging remarks against allopathy and allopathic doctors, demanding an apology from him within 15 days, failing which it said the association will demand compensation of ₹1,000 crore from the yoga guru.