The
Delhi High Court on Monday directed Ramdev to remove all claims attributing the
deaths of lakhs of people during the Covid-19 pandemic to allopathy doctors,
while promoting Patanjali’s Coronil as a ‘cure’
Justice
Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued an interim order restraining Ramdev, his associate
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,”
stated the bench.
The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by
several medical associations, including 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.
The
suit alleges that Ramdev and his associates made several false claims that need
to be retracted, such as:
·
Allopathy is responsible for the deaths of lakhs of people due
to Covid-19.
·
Allopathic doctors have caused the deaths of thousands of
patients.
·
Allopathic doctors have been profiteering from patients and
advising medicines that act as poison.
The
medical associations argued that these misleading claims by Patanjali were
creating doubts in the minds of the general public about the safety and
efficacy of allopathic treatments and Covid-19 vaccines. As an interim measure,
the 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 doctors further alleged public nuisance and
misrepresentation by Ramdev for making statements against allopathic medicine
and doctors while promoting Coronil.