Patanjali misleading ads case: SC asks Ramdev to tender public apology in one week

Guwahati: Acting tough on misleading advertisements the Supreme Court on Tuesday has given one week to Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna to tender a public apology in a case against the company for publishing “misleading advertisements.”

The Apex Court said that it would not let them “off the hook” at this stage, regarding the misleading advertisements that claimed cures for some diseases and also criticising the allopathy branch of medicines.

“You are doing good work but you can’t degrade allopathy,” the bench told Balkrishna.

The court has adjourned the matter next for April 23.

“I am willing to give a public apology,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ramdev and Balkrishna, told a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, PTI said.

Ramdev and Balkrishna said they were ready to tender a public apology after the court had refused to accept their apology last week.

They had issued an “unconditional and unqualified” apology in response to the contempt of court notices issued by the court in the case in which they had been sued by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

The Supreme Court was irked by the non-observance of the specific assurance and the subsequent media statements, which later issued a notice to them to explain why contempt proceedings were not initiated against them.