Patanjali misleading ads case: Supreme Court reserves order on contempt plea against Baba Ramdev, Balkrishna and others

Patanjali misleading ads case: The Supreme Court of India (SC) has reserved its order on a contempt plea against Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna, and others in the Patanjali misleading advertisements case, ANI reported on May 14.

The apex court has also exempted Ramdev and Balkrishna from personal appearance in the case. at the next hearing.

Also Read | Patanjali misleading ads: Supreme Court orders removal of online ads, halts sale of suspended products

What Was Said

Further, the SC has granted Patanjali time to file affidavits indicating the steps taken to recall ads of the products of which licenses have been suspended, and for recalling medicines.

The case was heard today by the bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah. “Public is cognisant, if they have choices they make well informed choices...Baba Ramdev has a lot of influence, use it in the right way,” the SC said.

Also Read | Patanjali case: IMA president's comments 'unacceptable', says SC | 10 things the top court said

The court will receive an affidavit from Patanjali detailing the steps taken to pull down existing misleading ads of the company's products, Bar and Bench reported.

To be filed in three weeks time, the affidavit will also explain steps taken to recall those Patanjali products that have had their licenses suspended, the report added.

Also read | Patanjali pulled up by the SC: Truth matters in advertising

Background 

Notably, the SC had last week said that celebrities and social media influencers were “equally responsible” for products that they endorse, and if such products are found misleading they could be held liable.

During the same hearing on May 7, the apex court also termed as "very, very unacceptable" the statements made by Indian Medical Association (IMA) president RV Asokan targeting the apex court in an interview with the news agency PTI.

“You are the one coming to the court and saying that the other side are the ones misleading the public by advertisements, running your system of medicine down. What are you doing?” the Bench said.

Patanjali filed an application urging the court to take judicial notice of the “wanton and unwarranted comments” made by the IMA president.