Misleading Patanjali ads case: SC rejects apologies of Ramdev, Balkrishna

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the unconditional apologies filed by Patanjali founders Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna for misleading ads, saying that it was not satisfied with them.

Hearing the contempt case against Patanjali Ayurved, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin told Ramdev that he was taking the contempt of court proceedings lightly.

The court also ripped apart Uttarakhand state authorities for not taking action against Patanjali for its misleading medical advertisements.

"We don't want to be so generous in this case," a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said during the hearing.

Ramdev and Balkrishna had tendered an "unconditional and unqualified apology" before the apex court over advertisements issued by the firm making tall claims about the medicinal efficacy of its products.

In two separate affidavits filed in the court, Ramdev and Balkrishna have tendered an unqualified apology for the "breach of the statement" recorded in the November 21 last year order of the apex court.

In the November 21, 2023 order, the top court had noted that counsel representing Patanjali Ayurved had assured it that "henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form".

The top court had said Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is "bound down to such assurance".

The non-observance of the specific assurance and the subsequent media statements irked the apex court, which later issued notice to them to show cause as to why contempt proceedings be not initiated against them.

(With PTI inputs)

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