HC restrains Patanjali from airing ads criticising Dabur Chyawanprash

The Delhi High Court restrained Patanjali Ayurved from airing TV ads disparaging Dabur's Chyawanprash products, following Dabur's plea for an injunction against the allegedly defamatory campaign.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday restrained Patanjali Ayurved from running advertisements that appear to criticise Chyawanprash made by consumer goods company Dabur India, which claimed that the Ramdev-led firm ran thousands of disparaging advertisements against its product.

 

The court’s interim decision came on a plea moved by Dabur India, seeking an injunction against the alleged defamatory advertising campaign.

 

After passing the restraining order, Justice Mini Pushkarna fixed July 14 as the next date of hearing.

 

Dabur had moved two interim injunction applications in December last year, in which summons were issued.

 

In the second injunction application, Dabur alleged that after the issuance of the summons, Patanjali ran thousands of advertisements against its product in one week. 

 

Patanjali Ayurved has claimed that its product contains 51 herbs, compared to Dabur’s 40, and allegedly suggested that Chyawanprash sold by other brands contains mercury.

 

Dabur has denied such claims, alleging that Patanjali’s advertisement specifically refers to Dabur’s product made with 40 herbs as ‘ordinary’.

 

Dabur has claimed that in the TV and print advertisements, Patanjali has made “fallacious and deliberate misstatements” and serious comparisons, denigrating and defaming the Dabur Chyawanprash.

 

Ramdev was recently pulled up and made to apologise by the Supreme Court for running a campaign against modern medicine in a case filed by the Indian Medical Association.

 

He also gave an undertaking in the Delhi High Court in May this year, saying that he will not issue any disparaging statement against Hamdard’s Rooh Afza.