Delhi HC orders Ramdev to remove Patanjali’s Coronil Covid-19 ’cure’ claims within 3 days

Delhi High Court has ordered Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna to retract his claims that Coronil is a ‘cure’ for Covid-19 within three days. This legal action comes amid mounting scrutiny over the efficacy of Patanjali products.

The Delhi High Court also ordered Ramdev to remove claims blaming allopathy doctors for deaths of lakhs of people during Covid-19 pandemic.

"I have directed the defendants to take down certain tweets in three days, if they fail to do it, the social media intermediaries will take down the content," Bar and Bench quoted Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani.

The Delhi HC on Monday directed Baba Ramdev to take down his statements in public claiming that Coronil is a ‘cure’ for Covid- 19 and not just an immunity booster.

The Delhi High Court pronounced the verdict on a plea that forms a part of a 2021 lawsuit by several doctors' associations against the Ramdev, his associate Acharya Balkrishna as well as Patanjali Ayurveda.

According to the lawsuit, Ramdev made "unsubstantiated claims" with respect to 'Coronil' being a cure for Covid-19, contrary to the licence granted to the drug for merely being an "immuno-booster".

The senior counsel appearing for the doctors had sought a direction to restrain the defendants, Ramdev and others, from making further similar statements.

The doctors' association had alleged that there was a misinformation campaign and a marketing strategy to further the sales of the product sold by Ramdev, including 'Coronil' which claimed to be an alternative treatment for Covid-19.

Three Resident Doctors' Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar as well as Association of Resident Doctors, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh; Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP); Resident Doctors' Association, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut; and the Telangana Junior Doctors' Association, Hyderabad had moved the Delhi High Court in 2021 against Baba Ramdev and others.