Remove offending tweets in three days: Delhi High Court to Ramdev on plea by doctors over Coronil

Yoga guru Ramdev addresses the media during the launch of ‘Coronil’ and ‘Swasari’, in Haridwar, on June 23, 2020.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Delhi High Court directed yoga guru Baba Ramdev on July 29 to take down certain “offending” social media posts in relation to the use of “Coronil” for Covid-19.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said he was “allowing” a plea moved by several doctors’ associations against Mr. Ramdev. “There are directions for taking down of some of the offending posts and content. There are directions to the defendant to take down those set of tweets in three days,” the judge said.

If the direction is not complied with, microblogging platform X (earlier Twitter) will take down the content, the court added.

A copy of the order is awaited.

The plea is part of a 2021 lawsuit filed by the doctors’ associations against Mr. Ramdev, his associate Acharya Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurveda. Justice Bhambhani had reserved the order on the issue on May 21 after hearing the parties.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Ramdev had 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”.

Three resident doctors’ associations of the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar as well as the Association of Resident Doctors, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP), Resident Doctors’ Association, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut, and Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association, Hyderabad moved the High Court in 2021 against Mr. Ramdev and the others. They alleged that there was a misinformation campaign and a marketing strategy to further the sales of the products sold by Mr. Ramdev, including “Coronil” that claimed to be an alternative treatment for COVID-19.

On October 27, 2021, the High Court issued a summons to Mr. Ramdev and others on the lawsuit, saying it was not frivolous and a case for its institution was “definitely” made out.

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