'Allopathy medicines are poison': Ramdev stirs row days after SC reprimand

Ramdev's fresh statement followed two days after the Supreme Court closed contempt proceedings against Patanjali Ayurved co-founders for misleading the public through ill-informed advertisements

In what could be fresh legal trouble, yoga guru Ramdev landed in a new controversy on Thursday after calling allopathy medicines as “poisonous” and blaming them for “killing millions of people.”

“Health freedom is a long-standing dream (in India) because millions of people are dying every year by consuming the poisonous medicines of allopathy medicines…,” he told the media on the occasion of 78th Independence Day celebrations.

Ramdev’s fresh statement followed just two days after the Supreme Court closed contempt proceedings against Patanjali Ayurved co-founder and his aide Acharya Balkrishna and the company for misleading the public through ill-informed advertisements.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah closed the case after accepting the apology tendered by the parties. It also warned Ramdev and Balkrishna to not repeat their past conduct.

The court had reserved its verdict on May 14. It also said that the legal proceedings would be reopened if either parties violated the court orders.

Patanjali misleading ads case in Supreme Court

The case was linked to the petition filed by the IMA (Indian Medical Association) against Patanjali’s advertisements.

In November 2023, Ramdev and Balkrishna assured the apex court that they would refrain from making any causal statements against any system of medicine. But a day later, they violated the order by alleging allopathy spreads lies. The company also issued a misleading advertisement in December.

Subsequently, in February, the court issued a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved for flouting the norms and misleading the public with false claims about the efficiency of their products.

In March, after the court was told that the reply to the contempt notice was not filed, it ordered Balkrishna and Ramdev to appear personally. The company was asked to issue unconditional public apology advertisements in national daily newspapers for its error of putting misleading advertisements in the past.

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