The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued summons to yoga guru Ramdev on a lawsuit filed by several doctors’ associations for allegedly spreading misinformation against allopathy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Justice C. Hari Shankar, while granting four weeks to Ramdev to file his response, said the doctor’s associations’ suit was not frivolous. The court also issued summons to Acharya Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurveda on the suit.
“I have seen the video clips. From the perusal of the video clips, your client [Ramdev] is scorning the allopathic treatment protocol. He has literally gone to scorn at the prescription of steroids, people going to hospitals,” Justice Shankar observed.
“From the perusal of the clips, there is definitely a case for the institution of the suit. They may have nothing for an injunction but the case is not frivolous,” the court said, clarifying that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.
Senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Ramdev, said he had no objections to the issuance of summons in the suit but was opposed to the allegations made in the case.
The associations include three Resident Doctors’ Associations of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar; the Association of Resident Doctors, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; the Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP); the Resident Doctors’ Association, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut; and the Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association, Hyderabad.
Their suit alleged that Ramdev was misleading and misrepresenting to the public at large that allopathy was responsible for the deaths of several people infected by COVID-19, and insinuating that allopathic doctors were causing deaths of the patients.
The associations have submitted that the yoga guru was sowing doubts in the minds of general public with respect to the safety and efficacy of not only allopathic treatments but also COVID-19 vaccines.
The plea said that being a highly influential person, they apprehended that Ramdev’s statements can influence lakhs of people and divert them from allopathic treatment which are prescribed as the standard form of care even by the government.
The associations alleged that the misinformation campaign was nothing but an advertisement and marketing strategy to further the sales of the product sold by Ramdev, including Coronil, which claims to be an alternative treatment for COVID-19.
Earlier in June this year, the High Court had issued summons to Ramdev on a suit filed by the Delhi Medical Association over his controversial statement on allopathy.