On Wednesday, Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director, Acharya Balkrishna, submitted an unqualified apologies to the Supreme Court about their ads that disparaged evidence-based medicine.
Balkrishna said in an affidavit submitted to the supreme court that his company would not run such advertisements that aimed simply to promote Ayurveda.
The affidavit stated , “The Deponent will ensure that such advertisements are not issued in the future. By way of clarification, not as a defense, the Deponent begs to submit that its intention is only to exhort the citizens of this country to lead a healthier life by consuming products of the Respondent No. 5 including products for lifestyle ailments through the use age old literature and materials supplementing and backed by ayurvedic research,”.
The affidavit addressed a petition made by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) saying that Patanjali and Baba Ramdev, the company’s founder, had launched a smear campaign against modern medicine and the COVID-19 vaccination program.
In its affidavit, Patanjali said that it is obligated to uphold the rule of law and that it has the utmost respect for it. It further said its media arm was unaware of the court cases prohibiting these kinds of advertisements.
The affidavit more stated, “The Deponent regrets that the advertisement in question which was meant to contain only general statements inadvertently included the offending sentences. The same was bona-fide and added in routine course by the media department”.
Remarkably, the international corporation claimed that its ayurveda medicines are supported by scientific study and that it had clinical research data related to Ayurveda that was unavailable at the time the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940 was passed.
“The Deponent’s only quest is for a better and healthier life for each and every citizen and to reduce the burden on the countries healthcare infrastructure by providing holistic, evidence based solutions for lifestyle related medical complications through the usage of age old traditional approach of Ayurveda and Yoga. In fact, the idea was to promote the ayurvedic products which are based on age old literature/material backed by scientific research,” it was set forth.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court issued a warning, stating that it will impose charges of ₹1 crore for each false claim made in an advertising for Patanjali Ayurvedic goods that claim to treat illnesses.
At that point, the Court emphasized that the matter could not be limited to a discussion between contemporary medicine/allopathy and Ayurvedic goods.
Since there eventually needs to be a solution for deceptive medical marketing, the top court further ordered Patanjali to refrain from publishing fraudulent advertisements going forward and to refrain from making such claims to the media.
On February 27, this year, the court put a temporary ban on advertising for Patanjali Ayurvedic medications due to the publication of such ads even after the prohibition. Additionally, the firm and Balkrishna were given notices of contempt of court for false representations.
Despite the lack of factual support, the top court lamented that Patanjali has been deceiving the nation by falsely claiming that its medications can treat certain illnesses.
In addition, even though the current petition against deceptive advertising was filed in 2022, the Central government was criticized for doing nothing about it.
Additionally, Patanjali was prohibited from disparaging or claiming that alternative medical treatments are inferior.
When the case was later heard again on March 19, the Court ordered both Balkrishna and Baba Ramdev appear in person before it since the latter had neglected to submit a response to a show-cause notice in the contempt case brought against Patanjali Ayurved for its deceptive advertising.