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Synopsis

'While you point a finger at Patanjali, four fingers are pointing at you', told the Supreme Court today to the Indian Medical Association during the hearing in the Patanjali’s misleading advertisements case.

The bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah pointed out that doctors from the IMA are also endorsing medicines in the allopathic field.

The division bench questioned the IMA, "If this is happening, why should we not turn the beam towards you?"

The court was told by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Patanjali Ayurveda that on April 22, Patanjali published a public apology in 67 newspapers. 

In response, the bench queried whether the apology issued matched the size of Patanjali's newspaper advertisements. It sought copies of the apologies printed to be placed before it. 

Today also, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna were present in the courtroom.

This development took place in the plea filed by the IMA alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev Baba and his company against the COVID-19 vaccination and modern medicine.

Court had in November last year also directed Patanjali not to publish false advertisements in the future.

Patanjali had then undertaken not to publish advertisements making false claims about its products and targeting modern medicines and vaccinations, but it continued to do so.

Earlier this month, the top court blasted the official authorities of the State of Uttarakhand for not acting over the misleading advertisements being posted by Patanjali since 2018. The court had also refused to accept the unconditional apology submitted by Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna.

Case Title: Indian Medical Association & Anr vs. Union of India and Ors