COVID-19: Delhi HC directs Patanjali to remove claims that Coronil is a cure
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurveda to remove within three days claims attributing the deaths of people during the COVID-19 pandemic to allopathy doctors while promoting the company’s brand Coronil as a ‘cure’, the media reported.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued an interim order restraining Ramdev, his associate Acharya Balkrishna, and Patanjali Ayurveda from making such allegations. “I have directed the defendants to take down certain tweets within three days. If they fail to comply, the social media intermediaries will remove the content,” he said.
The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by several medical associations, who alleged that Ramdev and his associates made false claims that need to be retracted. These included: (1)Allopathy is responsible for the deaths of lakhs of people due to COVID-19; (2) Allopathic doctors have caused the deaths of thousands of patients, and (3) Allopathic doctors have been profiteering from patients and advising medicines that act as poison.
The petitioners included the Resident Doctors’ Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh, Patna, and Bhubaneswar; the Association of Resident Doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research in Chandigarh; the Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP); the Resident Doctors’ Association at Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College in Meerut; and the Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association in Hyderabad.
They argued that these misleading claims by Patanjali were sowing doubts in the minds of the general public about the safety and efficacy of allopathic treatments and COVID-19 vaccines.
As an interim measure, their suit sought to restrain Ramdev, Balkrishna, and Patanjali Ayurveda from making defamatory allegations against allopathy and promoting Coronil as a cure for COVID-19.
The medical practitioners alleged public nuisance and misrepresentation by Ramdev by making statements against allopathic medicine and doctors while promoting Coronil.
