New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 16 mentioned that it is yet to accept the apology tendered by yoga guru and entrepreneur Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna since they have violated “not one but three court orders”.
“At times, it does not appear that the apology is from the heart when you try to justify what you did. There has been a violation of not one but three court orders. Today, we are not saying ‘we condone you’. We are still deciding whether to accept your apology. You cannot be considered as ignorant as you could defy three court orders,” the bench comprising of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said, as per a Hindustan Times report.
Further, the court gave Ramdev and Balkrishna a week to take suitable steps “to redeem themselves” and demonstrate their remorse.
“Personality does not matter… You are part of the system. You and I understand but there are some people who don’t. Institutions matter, personalities don’t. The majesty of the institution and the Constitution are supreme…that is above us and that is important,” the bench told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who is representing the duo.
“Whatever you do, it has to be within the four corners of the law… You cannot denigrate or shoot down other systems to promote your system. We won’t allow that. You are before us because you have apparently committed contempt. There are incurable diseases, and no advertisements are allowed in respect of them. Law is equal for everyone. And if you think your system has a cure, prove it before the government panel first,” the apex court told Ramdev as he was present in person for the hearing along with Balkrishna, HT reported.
The bench added: “This country and its people have hopes from you. You should not have done all this. You cannot degrade allopathy. Don’t denigrate any other system.”
Accepting his mistake, Ramdev said, “The court is right. I will be extremely careful in future so that there is no defiance of a court order, or my position becomes delicate because of my mistakes. It happened because of our zealousness to tell the world about our discoveries and research. But we should have been more careful,” he added. Patanjali’s managing director Balakrishna also underlined that they are committed to more responsible advertising in the future.
However, the court asserted that the two were “not so naive” that they had simply made a mistake, after they offered to issue a public apology to avoid a contempt charge, HT reported.
The case pertains to the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA’s) petition against Ramdev’s controversial statements about modern medicine, including India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive and alleged misleading advertisements about Patanjali Ayurved products.
Also read: ‘Taken India For A Ride’: Why Supreme Court’s Order Against Patanjali Is A Significant Step
On November 21, the Supreme Court had asked Patanjali to immediately stop publishing misleading claims and advertisements against modern systems of medicine, warning of a hefty fine if it does not. Later, the IMA came back to the bench and showed a video clip which was of a press conference held by Ramdev on November 22 where he said that remedies for blood pressure were “lies spread by allopathy’’. Moreover, the medical body pointed out that Ramdev’s firm continued to circulate several false advertisements claiming to permanently cure aliments like hypertension and diabetes.
On February 27, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved and Balakrishna, for continuing to run the advertisements and banned the firm from running medical advertisements temporarily. The apex court also slammed the Union government for “sitting with its eyes shut” and not taking any action on the advertisements. During the subsequent hearings on March 19, April 2 and April 10, the bench had called Ramdev and Balkrishna in person, asking them to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court.
The Supreme Court will take up the matter again on April 27.
