Supreme Court strikes down Patanjali for misleading advertising (File)
New Delhi:
Yoga guru Ramdev personally appeared before the Supreme Court today over the “misleading advertisement” of Patanjali Ayurveda.
The Supreme Court had come down heavily on Patanjali for failing to comply with its instructions during the last hearing and directed Ramdev and company managing director Balkrishna to appear in person today.
After the hearing, Patanjali submitted an unconditional apology to the court and said that Patanjali’s purpose was only to advise the country’s citizens to use its products to live a healthier life.
On February 27, the Supreme Court directed the company to immediately stop all electronic and print advertisements of its medicines for providing “misleading” information.
It also criticized the center for inaction and said they were sitting with their eyes closed. “This is very unfortunate. The government must take some immediate action,” the judge said.
The case began in November last year when the Supreme Court, while hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), warned Patanjali Ayurved against making “false” and “misleading” claims in the advertisements of its medicines.
Referring to several advertisements that allegedly cast negative light on allopathic medicines and doctors, the IMA said companies involved in manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines had also made “disparaging” remarks to mislead the public.
Lawyers for the IMA said the ads claimed doctors themselves were dying despite taking modern drugs.
