Supreme Court seeks original record of Ramdev remarks on allopathy

The Supreme Court Wednesday directed Patanjali Ayurved founder Baba Ramdev to submit to the court the original record of his statement against allopathy about Covid-19 treatment.

“What is the original thing he has said. You have not placed the whole thing before us,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Ramdev.

The court will now hear the case on July 5 after the original video and transcript have been filed.

The SC was hearing a plea by Ramdev challenging multiple FIRs against him for his remarks. In Bihar and Chattisgarh, the local chapters of the Indian Medical Association filed complaints against Ramdev alleging he “wilfully and deliberately spread false, baseless and malicious information” about treatment of Covid patients by established and approved methods and drugs.

Citing a video circulating on social media, the IMA had in May said Ramdev has claimed that allopathy is a “stupid science” and medicines such as Remdesivir, Faviflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat Covid-19 patients. In the video, Ramdev also claimed that lakhs of patients died because of allopathic medicines rather than shortage of oxygen. In May, the apex medical body had also written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that Ramdev be booked immediately under sedition charges for alleged misinformation campaign on vaccination.