Patanjali receives a notice of contempt from the SC for 'misleading advertisements': Report

The court has halted Patanjali from promoting its medical products until further notice due to criticism of the company.

According to TOI, Patanjali received a contempt notice from the Supreme Court on February 27, 2024, for disobeying its directive against deceptive product promotions. Additionally, until further order, the court has prohibited Pantajali from promoting its pharmaceutical products.

During the hearing of an Indian Medical Association case concerning "misinformation against Allopathy," the Supreme Court dragged up the Patanjali conglomerate. Justice Amanullah declared after hearing the case that "misleading advertisements cannot be tolerated at all." Representing the IMA, senior advocate PS Patwalia emphasised that Patanjali had asserted that yoga could 'totally cure' asthma and diabetes.

In November of last year, a bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra asked the Center to hold consultations and come up with some recommendations to deal with misleading advertisements after reviewing a petition filed by IMA, which claimed that the group organized a smear campaign against the Covid-19 vaccination.

Patanjali Ayurved's deceptive and fraudulent advertising must end right away. Before deferring the case until February, the bench had declared, "This court will take such infractions very seriously and will consider imposing costs of up to Rs 1 crore on every product regarding which a false claim is made that it can cure a particular disease."

Ramdev faced several criminal prosecutions brought by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) due to his contentious remarks against the usage of allopathic pharmaceuticals during the Covid-19 outbreak. In response, he sought the Supreme Court, which on October 9 sent notice to the Center and the Association regarding his request to have the cases quashed. Ramdev has been charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 188, 269, and 504.

Ramdev was purportedly spreading misleading information on social media about medications that the medical community was using, according to the IMA complaint. The following hearing is scheduled on March 15 by the court.