‘We will rip you apart’: Why Supreme Court rebuked Patanjali | Case explained

Patanjali’s ‘unconditional apology’ was declined by the Supreme Court. (File photo/PTI)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 10) rejected the unconditional apologies from Patanjali co-founder Baba Ramdeb and Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna for the company’s misleading advertisements.

The bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah said it would “rip apart” the state of Uttarakhand for sitting over the misleading ads and called for the licensing authorities to be suspended immediately.

What is Patanjali misleading ads case?

In August 2022, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) filed a petition against a Patanjali ad that read: “Misconceptions spread by allopathy: Save yourself and the country from the misconceptions spread by pharma and medical industry.”

The petition stated two problems: 1). The company is denigrating allopathy through misinformation; 2) It is exaggerating claims about its own drugs.

In November last year, the court had warned the company against false advertising of permanent cures and threatened a fine of Rs 1 crore for every such product with exaggerated claims. The court did not, however, enter the ‘Allopathy vs Ayurveda’ debate.

Patanjali assured the Supreme Court that there “shall not be any violation of any law(s)”.

Just a day later, on November 22, Baba Ramdev held a press conference saying remedies for blood pressure were “lies spread by allopathy”.

On February 27, the Supreme Court restrained Patanjali from discrediting allopathy and from advertising products that claim to cure chronic conditions.

Later, the court issued a contempt notice against the company and Balkrishna for failing to adhere to directions passed in November.

The “entire country has been taken for a ride”, the bench said to the Union Government for failing to take “urgent action”.

Last week, the court refused to accept apologies tendered by Ramdev and Balkrishna, saying it was “lip service”.

Yesterday, the duo tendered their “unconditional apology”, to which the court responded, “Till the matter hit the court, the contemnors did not find it fit to send us the (fresh apology) affidavits. They sent it to the media first, till 7.30 pm yesterday (April 9) it was not uploaded for us. They believe in publicity clearly,” Justice Hima Kohli said.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Patanjali founders, said he cannot speak for the registry and that the apologies had been served.

Justice Amanullah asked if the apology is “even heartfelt”. “Tendering apology is not enough. You should suffer the consequences for violating the court’s order. We do not want to be generous in this case,” he said.

The court also pulled up the Uttarakhand state licensing authorities, including its joint director, for being “complicit”. It asked the licensing officers – holding the post between 2018 and now – to file an affidavit within two weeks, explaining their “inaction”.

The matter will next be heard on April 16.

Court raps Centre

On April 2, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre why it took no action against the Patanjali during Covid-19 pandemic when it claimed that its product ‘Coronil’ could cure Covid

“Still, you chose to keep your eyes shut. We are wondering why the Union of India did it?”, the top court said.

The Centre in its reply said the matter is not its “domain” and that states are the empowered authority, the Indian Express reported.